The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life
by Valjean
Summary: The transgenics are dying due to their serotonin defeciency. Will Max lose her family? Who can help them and what price will they have to pay? M/A
1. Default Chapter

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: With permission 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 1  
Plans**

"Had any mysterious phone calls lately?" Max asked.  
  
Alec looked up from his plate of food, raised one eyebrow, and regarded her over the restaurant table, his expression unreadable. They'd been sitting in the New York cafe for the past hour, watching the front of the museum across the street, checking out the crowd flow and the way the guards were positioned. The job was tonight, and this would be the last chance they had to make certain the sector police hadn't changed their schedules or added more men.  
  
"What?" Max said. "I'm just asking. I mean, it's not as if you're exactly forthcoming all the time."  
  
Alec set his fork down forcefully on the edge of his plate, the resulting clatter loud enough to make a pretty passing waitress turn around and look at him. He automatically flashed her an apologetic smile, then turned a scowl on Max.  
  
"Looks like I'm cramping your style," Max commented, noticing the waitress still looking a bit wistfully at Alec.  
  
"She's not my type," Alec said, biting the words off sharply as he took a sip of wine. He did, however, steal another glance at the girl. "At least not anymore. And yeah, sittin' here with you does make it look like I'm off the market. Remind me not to take you along when I'm really on the prowl."  
  
"Since when isn't anything with an X chromosome your type?" Max prodded him. "And, by the way, you can tone down the sarcasm. I know you've got taste when it comes to women. You picked me didn't you?"  
  
"Since I realized that bein' with ordinaries gets them killed," Alec interrupted, stating the fact bluntly, his hazel-green eyes challenging. "And I'll be as sarcastic as I want, Max. You may be in charge of savin' the humans, but you're _not_ in charge of me."  
  
"Fine," she said, her own good humor evaporating, and wondering what was wrong with him. "Now, about those phone calls. Any more lately?"  
  
"I'd have told you if there were any more," Alec said sullenly, picking up his fork again and swirling it in the spaghetti that remained on his plate.  
  
"Look," Max said, leaning forward a bit. "If this double agent stuff is too much for you then--"  
  
"It's _not_ too much for me, Max. In fact, it's what I trained for all my life, the sneak and creep, undercover crap. Just worm you way into someone's confidence then betray 'em. Easy as pie."  
  
"Yeah, but this is Lydecker we're talking about," Max said quietly, not liking the way Alec was spinning about this. "You know we can't mess around with him. Even though he's helped us, he's hurt us too, remember? You especially. And if he finds out you're pretending to report to him about Chimera when you're really gathering intel about him and Sandeman who knows what he'll do to you."  
  
Alec shrugged. "Spank me maybe?"  
  
"Kill you maybe?"  
  
"He'd have to catch me first."  
  
"Sooner or later he's going to want a face-to-face meeting," Max said. "Have you thought about that?"  
  
Again the shrug. "So, I meet with the guy. Tell him I'm doin' my job ... protecting his precious 452, the freakin' Special One. Tell him how things stand on the island."  
  
"I don't need your protection," Max said quietly. "I can take care of myself."  
  
"Of course you can." But he was looking at her a bit too intently now and she found it hard to meet his eyes.  
  
"I'm just saying, that if Lydecker wants you to meet with him, don't go off on your own. Be sure you tell me and take back-up. Or better yet, make him come to Chimera."  
  
"He wouldn't kill me. Not now. Not after he's had so many chances."  
  
"Alec, have you ever thought that this whole thing might not be just about me? It might be about you too? What if Lydecker wants to get his hands on you again."  
  
A smirk. "Sounds kinky. You really think the old guy is into--"  
  
Now it was Max's turn to throw down her utensil in exasperation. "Idiot! You were one of Manticore's finest, one of their elite soldiers. You don't think Lydecker just might want you back still?"  
  
"For what, Max?" Alec said. Then he noticed the waitress staring at him again and lowered his voice. "Manticore's long gone. The only rebuilding that's being done is on Chimera, and last time I checked you and me were pretty much in charge there. Lydecker's a go-between for Sandeman's people and as far as he's concerned I'm just the messenger boy. That's all there is to it. Hell, he helped us get our people to the island, didn't he? If he wants to get his hands on me or anyone else all he has to do is charter a boat and come knockin' on the barrack's door."  
  
"The shift guards are changing," Max said, looking out the window at the museum, abruptly changing the subject.  
  
Alec's eyes followed hers. "They've added another team," he said. "Not surprising with that big shindig tonight." He looked at her. "You sure your ex has got tickets for you two? This King Tut's party is supposedly sold out."  
  
"Logan said he had sources," Max replied. "And he's _not_ my ex. We were never really like that." She turned back to him just in time to see him silently mimicking the words "we were never like that." She scowled. "Are we done here now?"  
  
"Guess so," Alec said, pushing his chair back and standing up. He took out his wallet and put some bills on the table. Then he looked up at Max and smiled impishly, a speculative gleam in his eyes, his bad mood of a moment ago seemingly banished. "Does this count as an official date?"  
  
"No," Max snapped. "It does _not_ count as a date. This is work."   
  
"Fine," Alec said, his eyes still sparkling with mischief. "You're the mother of my child and the love of my life but you won't go on a date with me. Figures. In which case your half of the tab comes to fourteen dollars and sixty-five cents plus tip. And remember, the wine was your idea. You can pay me back later."  
  
"Jerk," Max muttered under her breath as she put money on the table and followed him out of the restaurant. But she couldn't help the little smile that touched her lips. Alec could be incredibly annoying at times, but in spite of that ... in spite of his many other character flaws ... she loved him more than life itself. He was a good man at heart and a huge part of her world now, their destiny linked by genetics and a fate neither of them quite understood, not to mention a sexual chemistry that made their lovemaking so intense it bordered on the supernatural.  
  
Lovers. Partners. Mates.  
  
She watched him walking in front of her, a Manticore soldier who'd lived through and survived the horrors she'd run from as a child. Someday she knew she needed to tell him how proud she was of him -- someday when he wasn't being such a total jackass.   
  


*****  


"No," Alec said to Mole, looking over the equipment in the pack while he sat with the lizard man in the back of the cargo plane that had brought them from Wellington, New Zealand to New York 12 hours before.  
  
A nice Lear jet would of course had been more stylish, not to mention speedier -- commercial travel out of the question with the transhumans along -- but even Alec realized there were limits to Genetically Empowered Inc.'s budget. Therefore, the ancient transport plane and pilot borrowed from a certain smuggler acquaintance had to do.  
  
"I want the lighter weight rope, that super fiber one we lifted from the military warehouse last month."  
  
"It's strong enough," Mole said. "And light. But it'll tear your hands to ribbons if you're not careful."  
  
Alec held up a pair of black gloves.  
  
Mole shook his head. "It'll cut right through the leather. Believe me, I've used this cord before. You're better off with the old fashioned nylon."  
  
"Just put it in the bag," Alec said, counting the grappling hooks and testing the small pulley he'd be using.  
  
The lizard-man shrugged and looked at Joshua. "Fine. But don't come whining to me tomorrow when your hands are a bloody mess."  
  
Alec took stock of himself one last time -- black cargo pants, t-shirt and form fitting jacket, gloves, lightweight pack with all his gear ...  
  
"Are the wire cutters in there?" he asked, rummaging through the bag.  
  
"Right here," Mole said, holding up the cutters. "And here are the jumpers, as well as the meter. You'll be able to check the current on the alarm wires with this, make sure they're all re-routed."  
  
"And the phone signal?"  
  
Mole pointed to another electronic gadget. "It'll mimic the dial tone so the alarm system won't think the connection's been cut."  
  
"All set then," Alec said, reaching out and picking up the Glock 35 lying on the table beside the back pack. He tucked the weapon in the waistband of his pants, in back beneath his jacket.  
  
"You know, if one of the hover drones scan you and pick up that gun you'll be screwed," Mole said. "Maybe you'd better leave it here tonight."  
  
"The hover drones are also programmed for body thermal scans," Alec said grimly. "They're just as likely to spot me that way as with the gun. Besides, Glocks are usually invisible to the scanners, mostly plastic."  
  
Joshua, who'd been watching the preparations, spoke up for the first time. "Alec," he said. "You be careful tonight."  
  
Alec looked at him, his head cocked to one side, and smiled. "What's with you guys? You'd think I'd never pulled a job before. It's just a simple heist. Max goes to the party with Logan, hides in the museum until it closes, I reroute the alarms and take out the guards, then we jack King Tut's crown or necklace or whatever that scientist guy wants for his fee. He winked at Mole. "Didn't I tell ya not to worry? That we'd get whatever we had to?"  
  
"Yeah, yeah," the lizard man said. "You X5's think you own the world when it comes to stealin' stuff from ordinaries."  
  
"Hey, what can I say? We put the 'cat' in cat burglar."  
  
I'm just sayin' that there's gonna be a lot of security tonight, what with all those other jobs that have been pulled around the city lately."  
  
"None of which we did, I should point out," Alec said. "That's why this heist is so beautiful. Transgenics will never be suspected. Hell, we're not even supposed to be in the country. According to Senator McKinley and his cronies all of the so-called mutants are now 'incarcerated' on an isolated island off the coast of New Zealand." He grinned again. "The New York sector police will just put this down to another robbery by the same gang that's been hittin' those jewelry stores and banks."  
  
"It's a good plan," Joshua said, clapping Alec on the shoulder. "If nothing goes wrong."  
  
"Hey," Alec said, hoisting the backpack. "This is me and Max we're talkin' about. What could go wrong?"  


To be continued ...

_There is one upcoming chapter in this story that might not be acceptable for fanfiction.net's new guidelines. Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety as I write the story is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site. _

Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note 


	2. Party

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: With permission 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 2  
Party**

Alec looked up when Max came aft from the forward compartment of the plane, and suddenly felt like he couldn't breath. The sight of her in that form fitting, mini red silk dress, black stockings, and sequined high heels with her hair hanging in dark ringlets around her beautiful face literally made him feel like he was suffocating. God, she was gorgeous ... the most incredible woman he'd ever known or even imagined.  
  
And then he saw who's arm she was hanging on and felt like someone had just doused him with a bucket of cold water -- Logan, in his black formal wear every inch the fine gentleman and, thanks to his constant transgenic blood transfusions, walking without the aide of his exoskeleton. Together at last, all worries about the virus long gone, the two looked to be the ultimate couple.  
  
They'd be dining together tonight at the museum. There'd be candlelight, romantic music, slow dancing. Max would have a really good time with her "date" before sneaking away just before the party's end to hide until the building closed.  
  
_And meanwhile I'll just be hanging around in a maintenance shaft. Out of sight, out of mind._  
  
Alec gave a final tug on the strap of his backpack and turned away from the happy couple. It was times like this when he asked himself why he cared ... why Max with Logan always got to him. Afterall, she was his mate now, had been for almost two years. They had a son together, a life and home they'd built together on Chimera ...  
  
But the truth was, Alec knew damn well why he cared, and despised himself for his insecurities. And seeing her like this tonight, in that breathtaking red dress that would be turning every male head in the room, wasn't doing anything to make those fears go away.  
  
_I always fall for the ones I can't have, _the little voice nagged in his head._ But you have her already you idiot!_  
  
"Alec!" Max more or less bellowed his name across the cavernous cargo hold.  
  
Alec took a deep breath, gathered his emotional defenses, and forced a devil-may-care smile as he walked to meet her. No way was he going to let Logan know he was jealous. The argument he and Max had had while planning the mission was bad enough. He highly suspected Logan had tried to kill him on more than one occasion, but Max, for some twisted psychological reason, still trusted the guy. Nothing he could do or say could shake her from that stance. He supposed it would take Max someday finding Logan standing over his corpse with a smoking gun in his hand before she saw the truth. Until then he was stuck with Cale, who admittedly _did_ have his uses as computer hacker extraordinaire, source of obscure information, and procurer of the impossible -- like tickets to tonight's museum party.  
  
"You called your highness?" he replied, sketching a mock bow, acknowledging her exquisite wardrobe, and truth-be-told her beauty. She really did look like a princess tonight.  
  
Max scowled, obviously not getting the compliment. Then she eyed him closely, looking him up and down in a way he found vaguely insulting.  
  
"What?" he said. "I've got everything."  
  
"You sure?" she said. "Because we can't afford any slip ups tonight."  
  
"Max," Alec said, truly offended. "I'm a pro at this."  
  
"You're also careless," she said, her grip on Logan's arm tightening. rubbing the insult in. However, just as Alec was about to say something he'd probably regret later, her brown eyes softened. "But you're also good. And I trust you."  
  
Somewhat mollified, Alec took the compliment for what it was worth, a crumb tossed his way by Max.  
  
_At least she's not yelling at me._  
  
He shook it off. "Hey," he said. "Let's do this. I wanna get back to the island by tomorrow night. I promised Dalton I'd go over that _kata_ with him before his martial arts test. And our contact will be waiting for delivery of the goods at dawn. We need to get that formula to Dr. Makari as soon as possible. He said he might be able to make a longer lasting serotonin vaccine with it."  
  
"We're as ready as we'll ever be," Max said, smiling. "Logan has a car waiting over at the airport terminal."  
  
"And my bike's outside on the tarmac," Alec said. He checked the time on his watch. "It'll take me a couple of hours to get to all of the alarm lines. There are two maintenance shafts I've got to access. But the party won't break up until after midnight I bet and that'll give me plenty of time. If anything changes, you can get me on the ear piece." He touched the sophisticated transceiver patch adhered behind his right ear, a bit of very useful technology Lydecker had once let them borrow that they'd conveniently forgotten to return.  
  
"Just to be safe," Max said, "I'll wait until two. The clean-up crew should be gone by then leaving only the guards to deal with."  
  
Logan cleared his throat. "You still don't know how many men will be in the building," he said. "That's a big factor."  
  
"Those we can't avoid we'll have to take out." She looked at Alec, her eyes warning. "Non-lethally I might add."  
  
Alec held up his hands. "Hey, not a cold blooded killer, remember?"  
  
"Just, meet me in the atrium at two," Max said firmly. "And Logan ..." She turned to her escort. "Have the car ready at the pick-up point by two thirty."  
  
"Will do," Logan said with a smile of his own. "I've always wanted to be a get-away driver in a heist, sort of a boyhood dream."  
  
"Gee, Logan," Alec said, one eye-brow raised. "My boyhood dreams were a lot more interesting than that." He couldn't help it. He glanced at Max and winked.  
  
Max didn't notice, but Logan did, and gave him one of those funny looks he'd been shooting his way ever since they'd flown in that morning. Alec knew damn well what it meant.  
  
_He still wants Max._  
  
Shrugging deeper into his jacket -- it was cold tonight -- Alec shook it off. Now was not the time for romantic intrigue. He then gave a high sign to Max, and turned away, heading for the outside and his bike. "Later," he said over his shoulder.  
  
"Be careful!" she called after him.  
  
"Always!"  
  
"Did you take your tryptophan?"  
  
He ignored that.  
  


*****  


Getting into the first maintenance shaft from the roof of the museum wasn't difficult, but Mole had been right about the rope. After hanging on it for fifteen minutes nearly four stories up in the air while testing the various alarm cables that ran the length of the space, it was all Alec could do to make his hands keep working. The rope was cutting into his palm and fingers something fierce, and shutting off the circulation in his right leg where he'd wrapped it.  
  
He glanced at his watch and groaned. An hour more of this and he wouldn't be able to move. But he had to finish the job in this shaft, then go on to the next one. Working as quickly as he could, stopping often to shake his hand and renew the blood flow to his fingers, he methodically tested, cut, and re-routed each of the alarm circuits. There was no way to tell which controlled the alarm to the case they needed, and this way all of the loops would be off.  
  
At last the first group of splices were finished. Alec knew he should go straight on to the next shaft, accessed by a different vent on the roof. But it was only ten o'clock. It wouldn't take much effort to hop out one of the ducts into an empty office. He could then sneak down and take a peek at the party. Besides, he told himself, it would give his poor circulatory system a rest as well. Also, he hadn't heard from Max since he'd arrived. They'd agreed to maintain radio silence as much as possible, on the off chance their signal might be picked up by surveillance equipment, but he'd feel better actually knowing she was in place down below.  
  
Or so he told himself.  
  
Leaving the rope hanging, Alec leaped over to one side of the shaft, clung like a cat, and pushed the screws out of a ventilation grid. The room beyond was dark and quiet, an unused office on the fourth floor. What harm could it do? He dropped softly onto the carpet, then ventured out into the hall.  
  


*****  


  
Max couldn't remember when she'd had a better time. The dinner was superb, lobster and filet mignon with the most expensive wine she'd ever tasted. There was soft music, candlelight, and Logan looking ever-so-elegant in his tuxedo seated across from her. For awhile she could almost forget that this was supposed to be work.  
  
After dinner there were speakers, then the orchestra came on stage and romantic music began to play -- which is when she found out Logan wasn't the best of dancers. Not that it mattered. She just enjoyed swaying to the rhythm with her head resting against the chest of a man who's, truth-be-told, company she still enjoyed -- not that she would ever dare let Alec know.  
  
"Have you picked your pleasures yet, Max?" a seductive voice whispered in her ear.  
  
Max's head jerked up, her eyes wide and startled.  
  
Logan looked down at her. "Max?" he said. "What's wrong?"  
  
And then she remembered. The miniature transmitter behind her ear. Scowling, she said in a low voice, "Alec. We're supposed to maintain radio silence."  
  
"Just checkin' in," Alec said. "Wanted to make sure the link worked. By the way, that case with the necklace in it is at the top of the stairs."  
  
Max swiveled her head, looking around. "Where are you?" she whispered harshly.  
  
Logan was staring at her. An apology in her eyes, she pointed to her ear. "Alec."  
  
"And what's our lovable X5 rogue screwing up this time?" he asked.  
  
"I don't know," Max said. "And that's what worries me. Alec, where are you?" she repeated.  
  
"Look up, ten o'clock," the voice in her ear said.  
  
She glanced up at the second story balcony and was just able to make out a dark clad figure half hidden behind a heavy velvet drape.  
  
"You're supposed to be taking care of the alarm system," she said hotly.  
  
"And _you're_ supposed to be casing our target," he returned. "So what about it? Are there any external security devices? Or are you too busy wining, dining, and livin' the high life to bother checking?"  
  
"You do your job and I'll do mine," she said harshly. "Now, shut up and get out of here."  
  
"Fine, Max. But first tell me what Logan's--"  
  
But the rest of Alec's words were drowned out by a burst of gunfire from the front of the room.  


To be continued ...  


_There is one upcoming chapter in this story that might not be acceptable for fanfiction.net's new guidelines. Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety as I write the story is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site. _

Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note 


	3. Getaway

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: With permission 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 3  
Getaway**

Pain shot through Alec's skull as the deafening sound of the gun shots reverberated through the transceiver straight into his brain. Yelping, he tore the patch off from behind his ear, then stood massaging the side of his head trying to will his badly overloaded hearing to return while he watched, incredulous, what was happening down below.  
  
It seemed the transgenics weren't the only ones interested in stealing from the King Tut exhibit. A group of at least 15 black clad, masked men had just burst through the front door, gunned down half a dozen guards, and were now herding the crowd of elegantly attired guests into a circle in the center of the room.  
  
"This is bad," Alec said. "Very, very bad." He debated retreating upstairs to the safety of the maintenance shaft where he could still get out of the building. But Max and Logan were trapped with the others down below, and with the way those thugs were taking lives without a second thought, leaving them there didn't seem like a very good idea.  
  
For just a second, Alec wondered what Max would want him to do. He could almost hear her voice saying she could take care of herself, and that he should get out, not risk exposing them as transgenics.  
  
Alec shrugged. So much for what Max wanted. Now, what was _he_ going to do?  
  


*****  


"Could my life suck any harder?" Max muttered as she and Logan were pushed with the rest of the guests into middle of the museum hall. So much for her fun evening. And also so much for their plan to steal the King Tut necklace.  
  
"What do you think we should do?" Logan asked nervously, eying the combat uniformed men who were spreading out over the museum even as they watched. "They don't seem too concerned with not being noticed." He nodded in the direction of a dead guard by the front door. "Nor are they worried about casualties."  
  
"Just stay calm and say nothing," Max said tiredly. "They'll get what they want and then leave."  
  
One of their assailants came toward them, machine gun at ready. Gruffly he said, "your purse and your wallet, and any jewelry you're wearing."  
  
"Really," Max said huffily as she tossed her evening bag at him. "You're giving thieves a bad name. I mean, isn't all the priceless Egyptian gold enough? You're going to roll your hostages as well?"  
  
"Shut up!" the man growled. He swung a fist at Max, intending to backhand her, but she was too quick, grabbing his arm and bringing it up behind him eliciting a shriek of pain.  
  
"Max!" Logan shouted. "Watch out!"  
  
Another of the men saw what was happening and had raised his gun. Max let the guy go and stepped back, her brown eyes blazing with fury. Leering, Mr. Machine Gun motioned to her. "Upstairs bitch," he said. "We'll put that spunk to good use."  
  
Max looked around and noticed several of the most beautiful women had been singled out and were being shoved up the elegant staircase toward the second floor balcony. Her eyes flew to the curtains where Alec had been standing a few moments before. He had to have seen the whole thing. If he was sensible, he'd beat a hasty retreat, getting out before being discovered.  
  
But this was Alec.  
  
Max knew he was still lurking around somewhere, undoubtedly about ready to do something stupid. She wished she could use the transceiver, but didn't dare with the gunman so close by.  
  
"Max!" Logan said, grabbing her arm and trying to follow. The butt end of a gun cracked into his head and he went down.  
  
"Logan!" Max cried out, easily pulling away from the masked man who had hold of her arm. But she found herself looking straight down the barrel of another gun. "Tsk, tsk, sweetheart," the thug said. "Forget Mr. Right. We're gonna have a little party upstairs. Oh, and guess what? _You're_ the party."  
  
There were too many gunmen, the guests too afraid to do anything, and the guards were dead. With Logan down as well, Max was finally beginning to worry just a little bit.  
  


*****   


Watching from the shadows, Alec counted at least sixteen gunmen in the building, half a dozen of which had just herded a bunch of the women, including Max, upstairs. His recovered hearing picked up the sound of sirens outside, probably summoned by alarms going off when the strong-arm gang smashed museum cases down below. He had, after all, completed only half the job of rerouting the wiring.  
  
The fact that the police were here worried him. The fact that the armed men didn't seem particularly upset by it worried him even more. But then they had an awful lot of hostages ...  
  
_Not my problem._  
  
Only Max counted. He'd had it drilled into him his whole life at Manticore that the mission objective was the only thing that mattered. Outside distractions had to be ignored. The others didn't matter. The important thing, what he had to focus on, was getting her out without anyone tipping to the fact that there were transgenics mixed into the melee. The world was in enough chaos as it was with the global virus killing thousands every day. Humans were looking for a scapegoat, and the last thing he wanted was to draw attention to his people. Then he remembered Logan down below.  
  
Shit.  
  
Max would never leave without Logan. He'd seen the older man go down with a blow to the head. Peeking over the balcony railing, Alec saw Eyes Only climbing slowly and painfully to his feet. Good. At least he was conscious.  
  
Then he looked back to where Max was being held at gunpoint with half a dozen other women. "Hey Max," he said softly. "Guess we can't catch a break." But then suddenly he remembered. He'd pulled the transceiver off. It was lying on the floor by the railing. Snaking out a hand, he plucked the tiny device off the carpet and put it back in place behind his ear. "Max?" he said.  
  
No answer, not even static.  
  
Shit again. Alec closed his eyes. He'd broken the damn thing. Now, there was only one option. Reaching behind and beneath his leather jacket he drew his gun, rose to his feet, and began advancing stealthily toward the group at the top of the landing. There were only six armed men. With luck he'd be able to take out three before they knew what hit them, and hopefully Max would be able to handle the rest.  
  


*****  


Max's eyes widened as she saw Alec, gun in hand, creeping forward along the drapes curtaining the balcony.  
  
The idiot. The absolute idiot. Alec's answer to everything -- when in doubt start shooting. He was going to get a lot of people killed.  
  
"Alec," she whispered into the receiver. "Hold your position. I repeat, hold your position. That's an order, soldier."  
  
No reply. He didn't look as if he'd even heard her.  
  
Great. She saw him duck back behind a pillar and braced herself. She knew what was coming next.  
  
Two seconds later, Alec stepped clear, took aim, fired three times -- and three men went down. The other three immediately ducked and rolled, seeking cover, their shouts drowned out by the women shrieking and cries of alarm from the ones left down below. The sound of footsteps on the staircase meant re-enforcements were arriving even while she stood there.  
  
"Max!" She heard Alec call her name just as one of the remaining guards grabbed her around the waist and put a gun to her head.  
  
"I really don't have time for this," Max said tiredly as she whirled in his arms and wrenched the gun out of his hand. Then she kicked him hard in the groin and he went down. Turning, her eyes sought Alec who was keeping up a barrage of shots pinning down the other two. The other women had fallen to the floor, some of them sobbing with fear, others cowering silently.  
  
"Max, will you get down!" Alec screamed at her.  
  
There was no right way out of this situation, no graceful exit, no way to help the others. All she could do was save herself, and hopefully come back later for Logan. Kicking off the high heels that would hamper her speed, she blurred for Alec. Reaching out from his cover, his strong arm grabbed her, pulling her out of harm's way -- but not quite in time.  
  
One of the remaining gunmen had recovered his courage.  
  
The Teflon coated, armor piercing bullet struck Max in the upper thigh, shattering bone, rupturing muscle, shredding everything in its path before exiting her flesh and leaving a gaping hole in her leg.  
  
"Max!"  
  
Max stared up at Alec with wide, shocked eyes, her mouth open in a silent cry. The pain was a moment arriving, her nervous system overwhelmed. But when the agony came seconds later it was unbearable.  
  
Alec caught her in his arms as she fainted.  
  


*****  


He showed no mercy ... no regard for collateral damage. Barely able to focus through a red haze of fury, Alec lay Max on the floor at his feet, stepped around the pillar, and opened fire, emptying his clip at the gunman who had hurt her. The other two, seeing their companion go down with eight slugs in his body, turned and ran, colliding with those on their way up the staircase.  
  
Alec took aim at the others, but when he pulled the trigger all he got was the sound of the hammer clicking on an empty chamber. Cursing silently, he reached for another clip in his jacket pocket, but then he heard a sound from behind him.  
  
Turning quickly, he was just in time to catch a glimpse of several figures scurrying through the darkened hallway.  
  
Sector police? SWAT more likely. Maybe even military.  
  
"Shit, Max," he breathed, falling to his knees beside her. The phrase "caught between a rock and a hard place" came to mind -- the law on one side, the bad guys on the other, and a very seriously wounded Max right in the middle. Alec slid the fresh clip into the Glock and steeled himself.  
  
And then he thought of something.  
  
Tucking the gun back beneath his jacket and keeping the large pillar between him and the gunmen behind, he scooped Max up in his arms and stood, deliberately appearing shaky. "Don't shoot!" he called out to the approaching police. "We're hostages! She's wounded!"  
  
Alec could hear more police coming in down below. The robbers on the staircase, their attention divided, turned and began shooting toward the front door of the museum causing a fresh round of screams to erupt from the guests in the dining hall.  
  
One of the policemen motioned to him with the barrel of his rifle. "Come forward into the light!" he ordered.  
  
Alec complied. All he needed was a chance to get Max outside, out of this mess. Logan would just have to take care of himself for once.  
  
The man who'd spoken stood slowly. Only then did Alec notice that there was something odd about the way these guys were moving -- far more graceful than any SWAT or sector police squad he'd ever seen.  
  
As the team leader removed the knit mask covering his face, Alec's eyes widened, and another cliched phrase came to mind: "Out of the frying pan and into the fire."  
  
Grinning, her malignant eyes alight with pleasure, a Familiar female he recognized all too well stood right there in front of them, not five feet away -- the look on her face pure evil -- White's bitch from the Jam Pony siege, the one who'd already tried to kill him twice.  
  
"Well, well, well," she gloated. "I expected we might catch some transgenic filth tonight, but I never dared hope it would be you." She pointed a finger at Alec. "494, you and I are going to have a little fun before I allow myself the pleasure of putting a bullet between those damn green eyes of yours." Her gaze turned to Max, lying limp and bleeding in Alec's arms. "But as for 452 ..." She raised her rifle. "I'd like for her to live long enough to hear your screams, but I'm afraid duty takes precedence over personal pleasure. Her existence in this world is hampering our cause, and I have my orders."  
  
Her finger tightened on the trigger. And Alec moved--  
  


*****  


It was one of the most spectacular feats of athleticism Logan Cale had ever witnessed. He looked up just in time to see Alec, cradling Max in his arms, leap over the second story balcony railing.  
  
Their fall had the illusion of slow motion. The drop had to be more than 40 feet, and for a moment the two seemed to be frozen in mid-air as the trajectory of Alec's leap took him out and over the battle raging below. Max's body actually left his arms for a second, gravity pulling her up and away from his grasp as he plummeted down.  
  
A ordinary man ... a human ... would have shattered his legs on impact with the marble floor. But X5-494 with his feline DNA and genetically enhanced strength and bone structure landed with the grace of a panther, knees bending, Max still held possessively in his arms, a deep grunt the only indication of the stress his body had just endured.  
  
The young transgenic male stood poised for a heartbeat, scanning the room, assessing the danger, legs apart in a fighting stance. A silence fell over the crowd -- gunmen, hostages, and police alike astonished into inaction by Alec's incredible jump.  
  
And then, before anyone could even think to try and stop him, Alec blurred for the door, the night, and freedom.  
  
Utter quiet. Followed by utter chaos.  
  
"For God's sakes why didn't you imbeciles shoot him!" a woman's voice screamed from the balcony. "Don't just stand there! Go after him!"  
  
Logan looked up, and his headache intensified. A Familiar female was standing above, shouting orders, yelling about transgenic filth.  
  
And then he looked down and saw the blood on the floor where Alec had landed with Max.  


To be continued ...

_There is one upcoming chapter in this story that might not be acceptable for fanfiction.net's new guidelines. Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety as I write the story is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site. _

Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note 


	4. A Grave Situation

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: With permission 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 4  
A Grave Situation**

Five hours to Los Angeles where they'd refuel, then another six hours to the French Polynesian Islands and the second refueling. Afterwards, another five hours to Wellington, New Zealand, and a three hour boat trip out to Chimera.  
  
Too long ... too far ... too much blood.  
  
Zeb, a grizzled, dark skinned, ex-marine who worked for the smuggler the transgenics sometimes employed, looked as grave as Joshua and Mole when Alec's motorcycle screeched to a halt on the tarmac beside the DC9, their suspicions that something was terribly wrong confirmed when he dismounted only to scoop an obviously unconscious Max up into his arms.  
  
"What happened?" Joshua asked as Alec ran up the ramp into the cargo hold.  
  
"A complication," Alec said grimly as he lay Max down on one of the cots they'd set up as a place to sleep during the long flight. "The kind with machine guns."  
  
"Did you at least get the necklace?" Mole asked, chomping on his cigar.  
  
Alec shot the lizard man a look and the transhuman wisely shut up. "I need a tourniquet!" he shouted over his shoulder. He'd already tightened his belt around Max's upper thigh, but it wasn't doing the job very well.  
  
Zeb pushed his way past Joshua with a large first aid kit in his hand. "I was in the medical corps before I got my pilot's clearance," he said. He put a gentle hand on Alec's shoulder. "Let me see her, son."  
  
Alec, a grateful look in his eyes, moved away, but he didn't let go of Max's hand. "Can you help her? Or do we need to find a hospital?"  
  
"You take her to a hospital and you might as well put a bullet in her head," Mole said. "They'll spot her as a Trannie and it's over -- probably for all of us."  
  
"I know!" Alec shouted, rounding on the big transhuman. "But I'm not gonna just let her bleed to death!"  
  
Zeb was tightening a better tourniquet around Max's leg. "There," he said. "The bleeding's slowing."  
  
"We can't leave that on for the whole trip," Alec said desperately, raking bloody fingers through his hair in frustration. "She'll lose her leg."  
  
Zeb was rummaging in the substantial medical kit. "I always carry a lot more supplies than required," he explained. "I fly alone a lot and you never know what you might need." He held up a small leather case -- surgical instruments.  
  
Alec's eyes widened at the implication.  
  
"I've got antibiotics too," Zeb said. "I served as a surgical assistant in the last Middle East war. Got myself grounded for awhile due to a little drinking problem."  
  
Alec still hadn't decided what to do when he heard the sirens approaching.  
  
"Alec?" Joshua said from where he was keeping watch at the top of the ramp. "Police cars. Lots of them."  
  
"McKinley's people were there," Alec said. "Familiars."  
  
"What?" Mole shouted again, nearly dropping the cigar from his mouth, the loud tone apparently the only way he knew how to communicate. "You mean you were made and you're only now gettin' around to mentionin' that minor detail?"  
  
"Yes, we were made!" Alec screamed at the transhuman.  
  
"Alec?" Joshua asked again. "What should we do? And where's Logan?"  
  
"Logan's on his own," Alec said under his breath as he turned around and looked at Zeb who was working feverishly on Max's wound.  
  
The dark man glanced up. "The bone's splintered. All I can do is control the bleeding, temporarily stitch the veins and arteries, and hopefully keep enough circulation in her leg until a real surgeon can work on it."  
  
Alec knew he couldn't panic. Manticore had taught him better than that. But if he made the wrong decision now Max could lose her leg, or her life. Worse, they all could lose their lives.  
  
The sirens were getting closer. He looked toward the cockpit.  
  
"You said you could fly," Zeb said.  
  
"I said I could 'probably' fly," Alec corrected him. Then he realized what the pilot was implying. "Oh no. I can't ..." He looked at the cockpit again, a flutter of panic once again rising in his chest.  
  
"If I leave Max now she's going to die," Zeb said, his voice brooking no argument and his eyes deadly serious. "All that's keeping blood in her are my fingers holding the torn arteries together. If I tie them off completely, she loses the leg."  
  
Suddenly Mole grabbed hold of the front of Alec's leather jacket, his scaly face mere inches away, his breath reeking of cigar stink. "You brought us here oh high and mighty X5. Now you get us out. Lead damn it!"  
  
"Alec," Joshua said more gently, coming up behind him. "You can do this. You know you can. Get us home."  
  
With him at the controls they were bound to crash and burn. Alec knew they were. But ... what the hell. Who wanted to live forever anyway?  
  
"All right," he said quietly, shrugging away from Mole. "I fly. Zeb takes care of Max. Joshua, you help Zeb. Mole, you come with me. I need a co-pilot, someone to read the charts."  
  


*****  


Alec settled into the pilot's seat, took several deep breaths, and placed his hands on the control column. The huge bank of toggles, switches, and lights arrayed in front of him and to both sides was ominous, but not entirely unfamiliar.  
  
"What do you want me to do?" Mole asked.  
  
"For starters you could lose the cigar," Alec said quietly. "The smoke's makin' me nauseous. And then just be quiet a second while I access the info I need."  
  
"What do you mean access?"  
  
Alec pointed to his head. "It's all in here. I memorized the manual and mastered the simulation. But I've gotta remember it, and that's the trick."  
  
He closed his eyes, ignoring the sirens, going back several years in his memory, to when his unit was on military missions for Manticore. He'd been trained as a back-up pilot for one of those just-in-case scenarios where the real pilot and co-pilot might be killed or otherwise incapacitated. He'd learned the stuff like it was a video game.  
  
Visualizing the control panels his genetically enhanced eidetic memory had placed in his brain, he brought up a picture in his mind of the sequences.  
  
"Can you fly this thing or not!" Mole yelled, losing the last of his patience.  
  
Alec opened his eyes, his face impassive, and proceeded to flip a series of switches. The whine of the engines humming to life increased his confidence, and he began going through the rest of the procedures. "Get out the charts," he told Mole, his voice oddly flat. "Look for Vancouver and read me the numbers."  
  
"Vancouver? I thought we were gonna refuel in L.A.?"  
  
"Too dangerous. We'll be tracked. If we cross the border they won't be able to stop us. And even if they try, von Schnelling will cover for us."  
  
"Can we make Vancouver on our fuel?"  
  
"Just," Alec said. "But it'll be close."  
  
He was taxiing the plane onto the runway now, trusting that the tower would see what was going on and warn other air traffic out of his way. Squad cars were racing beside the plane, sirens blaring and lights flashing, but the DC9 was too big for them to stop. Bullhorns commanded he pull over. Instead, Alec pressed his booted foot on the pedals, opening the throttle further, gaining speed. His one worry was that they might shoot out the tires, but pretty soon they were going faster than the cars and leaving them behind.  
  
"The end of the runway's coming up fast," Mole said, his eyes rounder than Alec had ever seen them.  
  
"I know."  
  
"There are electric lines."  
  
"I know."  
  
"And those trees are pretty high."  
  
"I know."  
  
"Shouldn't we be off the ground by now?"  
  
Alec, biting his lower lip, watched their speed. They should be going fast enough now to achieve lift, centrifugal force pressing them into their seats, but he was finding it hard to pull back on the column ... finding it hard to actually put them in the air.  
  
"Alec! The lines!"  
  
Alec bit down harder on his lip, drawing blood, resisted the temptation to close his eyes, and leaned back in the seat, drawing the column slowly toward his chest. Like an ungainly bird, the big DC9 lifted from the ground, bounced, then lifted again.  
  
They cleared the electric lines by mere feet, and the treetops by inches. Below them the police cars skidded to a halt, some sliding sideways into the field at the end of the runway. Banking the plane slowly, Alec brought them around and pointed the nose west.  
  
"Damn," Mole said, his tone unflatteringly surprised. "We made it."  
  
"Yeah," Alec said, his expression relaxing into a cocky grin, belying the fact he was gripping the steering column harder than necessary so the transhuman wouldn't see how badly he was shaking. "We made it. We're goin' home."  
  


*****  


"It was like tryin' to land a hotel."  
  
"You mean Zeb made _you_ put that bird down in Vancouver?" O.C. said.  
  
Alec looked at her and just nodded. He was still spun about that particular close call. Max had taken a turn for the worse about the time they were over North Dakota, and Zeb had yelled up front that he couldn't leave her.  
  
"I had no choice," Alec said with a shrug. "We were runnin' on nothin' but fumes. It took me three passes over the airport, and we ended up bouncin' four times, but at least I got us down in once piece. We refueled and were back in the sky within twenty minutes. The Polynesia landing was a little better, although for awhile there I thought we were lost over the Pacific. You wouldn't believe how good those island lights looked when I spotted 'em about dusk. By the time I got us to Wellington it was a piece of cake." He tapped one side of his head. "Guess we can thank Manticore for givin' me, and I quote my file, 'an exceptional procedural memory.'"  
  
"Just like playin' the piano," O.C. said, patting him affectionately on the arm. She looked down at Brac. Learning to walk, he was toddling around on the grass beside her. "Baby," she said. "Your daddy's got skills."  
  
With a deep smile in his hazel-green eyes, Alec reached down and picked up his son, giving him a hug. "O.C.'s right you know," he told the baby. "Your daddy's a very smart man."  
  
"Smart alec man ya mean," O.C. said wryly.  
  
"And your mommy's gonna be just fine," Alec continued, ignoring the good-natured barb. "The Doc said so."  
  
Alec really said the last part for his own benefit, not the child's. The baby had no way of knowing how close Max had come to dying. He took a deep breath and looked out over the clearing in front of them, at all the graves. There were so many. Funny, but with his many priorities when they'd been settling Chimera, making a cemetery hadn't been on the list. Unfortunately, the graveyard had been one of the first things they'd needed.  
  
Max's leg had been a mess by the time they made the island. He'd almost taken her to a hospital in Wellington, but the mainland people were frightened half to death of the mutants on the island and he didn't want Max in their hands. He'd be ever grateful to Zeb though. The pilot had stuck with them all the way, even making the three hour boat trip, which Alec had managed to cut to just over two hours by breaking every marine speed limit in existence with the motorboat. Joshua's stomach still hadn't recovered, and even Mole had looked a bit greener than usual by the time they pulled into the marina.  
  
"What's the Doc got to say about Max?" O.C. asked, looking at the rows of marker stones on the graves.  
  
"That she could still lose her leg," Alec said quietly. "But that she probably won't 'cause she's a transgenic. Her body's healing three times faster than a human's, and as long as he can keep the circulation going she might even be as good as new in a month or so." He looked at O.C., a wry smile on his face. "Doc Makari might have worked for Manticore, but he didn't have much contact with the results of his research. We seem to be a never ending source of wonder to him and he just loves workin' miracles on our genetically enhanced bodies."  
  
"You're lucky to have a doctor here at all," O.C. pointed out. "Let alone one who knows transgenics. Much as I hate to admit it, you owe Lydecker for that one."  
  
"Yeah," Alec said. "'Deck's the one who put Max and me onto Makari. Didn't take much to convince him to come out here though, once he found out no one was gonna shoot him in the head for helpin' Manticore escapees." He looked at Brac. "I probably owe Lydecker for puttin' the guy's mind at ease too."  
  
"Lydecker wants you to succeed, Alec," O.C. said. "He's bought this whole 'save the world' shit lock, stock, and barrel -- figures he's played some part in your creation so he's gotta keep an eye on you now, help if he can. In a fuckin' odd way, you all are his children."  
  
"Somethin' like that," Alec said with a shrug. "I still don't trust the guy, and Max really hates him."  
  
"That's 'cause he tortured you," O.C. said quietly. "More'n once as Max tells it."  
  
"Don't go there, O.C.," Alec said, closing his eyes. _Not with my son in my arms._  
  
The baby made a gurgling sound and flayed a little fist. Automatically, Alec reached up and tucked the child's thumb under, making it the proper fighting configuration.  
  
"Don't you think he's a little young for that?" O.C. said, one perfect eyebrow raised and a skeptical look on her dark skinned face.  
  
"Never too young," Alec said. "Not for an X5. Brac's gonna need to learn a lot pretty soon or else he could be a danger not only to himself, but to everyone else."  
  
"You're not animals, Alec," O.C. chided. "No matter what Lydecker says. I swear, that man makes it sound like his Manticore soldiers are rabid dogs just lookin' for somethin' to bite."  
  
_All it takes is a trigger for them to kill._  
  
Alec had heard that said about his kind so often he'd come to believe it himself. Then again, he'd also had first hand experience with his own frighteningly aggressive nature, not to mention what had happened to Ben, his twin brother. No, Brac needed to be raised in an atmosphere of strict discipline and rules, taught to use his abilities to their fullest, but more importantly taught how to control the instincts that drove those abilities.  
  
The baby made a happy sound, looked at him, and very clearly said, "Da-da."  
  
Alec melted inside at the little word. Maybe the strict discipline and rules could wait just a little bit longer. Let the kid be a kid while he could.  
  
"Alec," O.C. prompted.  
  
"What?" He looked over at her, still smiling and jostling Brac in his arms.  
  
"With all that happened, with Max bein' hurt and all, I never did hear. Did you get it?"  
  
"Get what?"  
  
"The necklace? The trinket that scientist wanted in return for the information about the medicine that might help the seizures. I mean, Mole said you didn't -- said the whole mission was a bust. And I know with you havin' to rescue Max and all there probably wasn't time. But I just thought I'd ask ..." Her voice trailed off apologetically. But then she looked out over the graves. "You guys need help, Alec. And you need it now. That brain chemistry deficiency thingy is takin' down too many. We've lost--"  
  
"I know how many we've lost, O.C.."  
  
"Even Brac's low on--"  
  
Alec reached into the pocket of his jacket and silently held up a gem studded gold necklace. 

To be continued ...

_There is one upcoming chapter in this story that might not be acceptable for fanfiction.net's new guidelines. Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety as I write the story is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site. _

Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note 


	5. Tryptophan

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: With permission 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 5  
Tryptophan**

She loved to watch him sleep. He lay beside her in their bed, one hand curled beneath his cheek, the other resting possessively on her naked breast. With those predatory green-gold eyes closed he looked so deceptively innocent, like a little boy. And the long dark blond strands of hair that fell in waves across his forehead and covered his ears only added to the illusion of youth, making him look more like a teenager than the adult warrior he really was.  
  
He sighed and murmured, probably dreaming, and Max resisted the temptation to stroke that long mane of hair that covered the bar code on the back of his neck, tangle her fingers in it. All it would take was a touch and he'd be instantly awake, the primitive part of his hind brain that never really slept alerting him in an instant. No, she didn't want to deprive him of his rest. After all, Alec had been sitting with her nearly night and day ever since they'd returned from New York, worried sick about her wound, until Dr. Makari had finally pronounced her "out of the woods." Now it was his turn to sleep -- while the depleting chemicals in his brain still let him.  
  
"Serotonin." Max whispered the word aloud. An organic compound, C10H12N2O, formed from tryptophan and found in animal and human tissue, especially the brain, blood serum, and gastric mucous membranes, and active as a neurotransmitter and in vasoconstriction, stimulation of the smooth muscles, and regulation of cyclic body processes, or; a neurotransmitter involved in e.g. sleep and depression and memory.  
  
"Tryptophan." An essential amino acid, C11H12N2O2, formed from proteins during digestion by the action of proteolytic enzymes, necessary for normal growth and development and is the precursor of several substances, including serotonin and niacin, or; an amino acid that is essential for growth and normal metabolism; a precursor of niacin.  
  
Max had memorized the definitions years ago, when she'd been trying to find a way to combat her own seizures. Manticore had designed its X series soldiers with that one deliberate flaw, an inability for their bodies to manufacture serotonin. Afterall, the U.S. government couldn't very well have their revved up soldiers capable of living independent lives on their own, reproducing even. These were flesh and blood killing machines. Of course they'd required a built-in fail safe.  
  
The earlier X series, the X2's, 3's, and 4's, were worse off than the 5's, 6's, 7's, and 8's. They'd been the experimental models. Deemed essentially worthless and locked away in Manticore's basement, they'd never received any treatment at all for the condition, and they'd deteriorated the fastest in spite of taking tryptophan -- a grim preview of what was to come for the rest.  
  
Most of the graves on Chimera were theirs. Most ... There was also a small tomb stone for Maddie, an X7 girl who'd died three weeks ago from massive seizures. Some of the younger ones here had more problems with serotonin levels than others -- meaning some would die sooner. Although he'd tried to hide his emotions, Max knew Alec had taken Maddie's death hard. She'd been a constant companion of Dalton's, the kid who'd become almost like a little brother to the older X5.  
  
Only the transhumans were safe -- Joshua, Mole, Dix, Luke, and their like ... Considered to be freaks rather than a potential threat to the human race, Manticore hadn't cursed them with the failsafe in their brains.  
  
Max had known from the time she escaped in '09 that her lack of the brain chemical would probably kill her someday. But right now it wasn't herself she was worried about. Manticore had bought her more time. She'd received gene therapy two years ago after her heart transplant, and most likely had a number of years left before the chemical imbalance returned. No, it was Alec and the other X's on Chimera who were in deadly danger now -- the ones who'd been treated at Manticore 10 years earlier and supposedly cured of a deficiency that was far more crippling than their makers intended.  
  
Supposedly cured ...  
  
She could still hear Dr. Makari's words as he'd delivered what was essentially a death sentence to nearly a hundred of her people, Alec and their son included.  
  


*****  


"The gene therapy Manticore used on its X series ten years ago is breaking down," the doctor said. "The cloned cells that were injected into the soldiers to manufacture serotonin are being systematically destroyed by your incredibly advanced immune systems." He shook his head sadly. "This is truly a case of science outsmarting itself. The very thing that allows you to heal so rapidly, the stem cells in your blood stream, your vastly superior antibodies, are all more or less conspiring to kick out what they see as a foreign invader -- the cloned serotonin-producing cells in your brains."  
  
"But we can still take the tryptophan and be okay, right?" Alec said. "All of us. Either that or just put some more of those cloned cells in us."  
  
"I lived ten years without any gene therapy," Max pointed out. "Just took the tryptophan."  
  
"Tryptophan is a very imperfect temporary fix," Makari said. "Some will get relief from the seizures, some won't. Some will live for years on the tablets, some will die within weeks of their own serotonin depletion, the tryptophan making no difference."  
  
"Then do like Alec suggested," Max said. "Put more of those cells back in us."  
  
"Wouldn't work even if I had the equipment and knowledge to manufacture them," Makari said. "You're producing antibodies now that would destroy any newly introduced cloned cells. It would take scientists a decade or more to create another type of DNA marker that could do the same job."  
  
"Better stock up on tryptophan then," Max said. "Looks like it's going to be number one on our lists of supplies. And in the meantime, we keep looking for a permanent cure."  
  


*****  


But the whole world was falling into chaos and tryptophan wasn't high on the list of priorities of drug manufacturers -- not with thousands dying every day from the Familiars' pathogen. Sandeman's people were making and distributing vaccine as fast as they could, but it was an uphill battle that would undoubtedly take years to win. In the meantime, according to the Prophecies, the transgenics were supposed to be breeding an army to fight against the Familiars when they finally made their move for world domination -- kind of hard to do when your race was dying around you due to a brain chemical depletion.  
  
Max knew that she, herself, hadn't had any problems since Brac was born, and only a few tremors during the pregnancy. But then the genetic "fix" in her brain had only been inserted two years ago. Alec and the others, however, were at the end of the line. The new serum they'd purchased with the King Tut necklace had turned out to be of little use. Supposedly it would allow a better uptake of tryptophan, so their bodies could use it more efficiently and need less, but so far Dr. Makari couldn't make it work.  
  
And now they were running out of tryptophan altogether on Chimera, with almost no place to get any more.  
  
Unable to resist, taking a chance, Max reached out and lightly stroked Alec's hair while he slept, hoping she wouldn't disturb him. He'd started having tremors a little over a year ago, at first ignoring them, but finally being convinced by Dr. Shankar back in Seattle to begin the tryptophan supplements when blood tests showed his serotonin levels dropping dangerously low.  
  
For awhile the pills worked, just like they'd worked for her all those years. But there was something different about Alec's chemistry, maybe because of the failed gene therapy. Now he was having to take more and more of the supplement to remain functional.  
  
Alec stirred and Max tensed. Sometimes he had seizures in his sleep. All she could do then was to lie helplessly beside him, holding him in her arms while his muscles spasmed. In the morning he never remembered, the only evidence of the episode broken blood vessels in the whites of his eyes, sore muscles, and sometimes a bitten tongue.  
  
He didn't like to talk about that when it happened. She knew how helpless he must feel. Bad enough to suffer tremors when you're awake and know what's happening. Terrifying to suffer through when you're essentially unconscious, your sleep cycle becoming a conduit for a vicious brain storm that might someday prove fatal.  
  
Luckily, it didn't happen often to Alec -- the night seizures -- maybe once every month or two. But she'd seen his hands shaking more often lately, and he'd been downing the capsules every day.  
  
_I'm going to lose him. Not in battle, not to a bullet, but to Manticore's damn sabotage._  
  
Her heart thudded in her chest. She could lose Brac too, although the baby's serotonin levels weren't critically low yet.  
  
She wished she could get out of bed and check on their son, but her leg was immobilized in a halo cast, and Dr. Makari had cautioned her sternly to not put any weight on it for at least two weeks. If it hadn't been for her transgenic healing abilities ... if it hadn't been for Zeb's emergency medical skills ... if it hadn't been for Alec getting her out of the museum, flying the plane, getting her to help ...  
  
But she would heal, and she would live -- most likely longer than both her mate and her son.  
  
And that thought was enough to make Max wrap her arms around Alec's warm strong body and cry. 

To be continued ...

_There is one upcoming chapter in this story that might not be acceptable for fanfiction.net's new guidelines. Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety as I write the story is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site. _

Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note 


	6. Bad Idea

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: No 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 6  
Bad Idea**

Alec rarely lost his temper, but when he did the whole world had better watch out.  
  
"Max, I said no!" He turned away from her, looking out over the ocean, the hard set of his shoulders a warning.  
  
"I'm not asking your permission," Max said icily. "I was just telling you what I'm going to do." She was standing with one hand resting lightly on a tree trunk and the other on one of Sandeman's chimera-headed canes, still unable to put full weight on her healing leg.  
  
Alec spun around so fast the leaves on the forest floor beneath his boots flew into into the air, the look in his green eyes beyond angry. "I will _not_ have Logan Cale on my island," he said, biting off each word. "It's bad enough you keep askin' him to help us, first with finding the others in Canada, then the museum heist, and now with the tryptophan. You know he only does it because it's a way to keep in contact with you. Max, the guy's still in love with you, and he still wants me dead."  
  
"Alec--" she began. She looked down, trying to collect herself, control her anger. Finally, she raised her eyes, and the fire in their brown depths was as frightening as the green flame in his. "Alec, I love you. But I loved Logan first. And he's still a friend. No, he's more than a friend, he's a confidante and a companion. I enjoy being with him, talking to him ... he understands me in some ways like no one else, not even you. The plague is killing thousands of people every day. It's not safe for him in the United States any more. I want him here, on the island. He'll be able to help us find more sources of tryptophan, help us with finances, help us find Syl, Krit and the others we can't locate ..." She gestured with the cane. "You can't let your blind jealousy endanger our people, Alec. Logan's a valuable asset. We need him. I need him."  
  
Alec stood staring at her, his mouth slightly open, at a total loss as to how to respond to what his mate had just said. Part of him couldn't believe he'd heard her correctly. How could she be so naive where Cale was concerned? How could she not see that his intentions were, if not evil then at least far less than honorable?  
  
He swallowed hard, his mind racing, words he knew he would regret at the back of his tongue. "Max," he said, his voice deep and serious. "What if I ask you to make a choice? What if I told you that if Logan comes to Chimera then I'm leaving?  
  
"What if?" Max said quietly. "Are we speaking hypothetically here, Alec? Or are you serious? Would you really leave your family, your home, your friends just because of Logan? Would you let him win that way? Drive you out of your own life? I don't think so."  
  
She'd called his bluff. She knew him too well.  
  
"What if I said I'd kill him?"  
  
Max's eyes grew wary and she searched his face.  
  
"No bluff, this time Max. If Logan comes to the island, sooner or later I'll end up killin' him, and I won't even promise it will be in self defense. You say it's not safe for him in the States. Well, it would be a whole lot more dangerous for him here, around me. Workin' with him long distance occasionally like we have been is one thing. But havin' the guy in my face every day, knowin' how he wants you ... he might as well commit suicide."   
  
Letting go of the tree, she limped toward him, leaning heavily on the cane. Then she was standing directly in front of him, her head no higher than his chin. Leaning forward she put both hands on his shoulders and rested her face against his chest.  
  
Alec didn't move -- was barely breathing.  
  
"If Logan ever tried to hurt you again," she said softly against the leather of his jacket, "you wouldn't have to kill him because I'd kill him myself." She looked up into his eyes. "I'm bringing Logan here, Alec. And you'll live with it."  
  
"Why?" he asked roughly. "Why do I have to live with it?"  
  
"Because you love me," Max said. "And you'll do it for me."  
  
And damn it, she was right.  
  


*****  


"This place sure has gone downhill," O.C. commented as she and Alec made their way on foot through the streets of Seattle.  
  
"I didn't think it could get any trashier," Alec said, sidestepping a pile of debris on the street. "But I guess city services are kinda busy with things other than waste removal."  
  
"Like body removal," O.C. said in a more subdued voice, nodding in the direction of a corpse lying in the doorway of an abandoned apartment building. "They said on the news that people are droppin' like flies on the west coast from the plague, and I guess they were right."  
  
"We'll be fine," Alec assured her, putting an arm around her shoulder and giving her an affectionate squeeze. "I'm immune thanks to Max's blood and you've had Sandeman's vaccine."  
  
"Which is exactly what our friends at good old Jam Pony need," O.C. said. She rested her hand on the messenger bag draped over Alec's shoulder. "I can hardly wait to see the look on Normal's face when we come through the door with his salvation."  
  
Alec's eyes sparkled, his look smugly pleased. "I'm just glad Max was able to talk Sandeman out of some extra doses of the vaccine. Of course she does kinda have the old guy over a barrel, what with her bein' the only source of the antibodies and all. And I mean really, what's a couple dozen shots gonna cost him? It's the least he can do to repay his Prophetic Army and Special One for their services."  
  
"What makes me mad is how only the rich folk seem to be gettin' the cure," O.C. said. "It wasn't supposed to work that way."  
  
"Always does, O.C.," Alec said lightly. "The world may be comin' to a freakin' end but cash is still king, which is why I know damn well our pals at Jam Pony need our help. No way could the guys afford the ten thousand bucks a dose the vaccine is goin' for on the black market. They'd hafta sell their souls to the devil to buy this stuff."  
  
"Speakin' of the devil, you gonna be okay with Logan as a house guest?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Didn't think so," O.C. said with a big sigh. "For what it's worth, Alec, I tried to talk Max outta this crazy idea. I told her that the two of you would just end up killin' one another and it would be all her fault. But she's got this dang hang up about Logan -- never really wanted to live with the man, but now she can't seem to be without him."  
  
"Tell me about it."  
  
"He's packin' as we speak you know, with Max's help. Gettin' ready to move to the island."  
  
"O.C.," Alec said. "Please, drop it. I said I know. And I'll take care of Logan later, if I have to."  
  
O.C. stopped and put a hand on his arm. "Alec, just ... be careful around Logan. He's a real smart man and not someone I'd wanna have gunnin' for me, if you know what I mean. Personally, I think Max is puttin' your life in danger and Logan's too, like mixin' two chemicals together that are gonna make a huge explosion. But she won't listen."  
  
"Hey," Alec said, pulling away from her. "There's Sketchy."  
  


*****  


Normal had aged, the creases in his face deeper, his hair streaked with grey. It had only been 12 months, Alec thought. How could someone change so much in just a year?  
  
"Hey Normal!" Sketchy called out, an arm around the shoulders of his two friends. "Look what the cat dragged in!"  
  
Normal didn't look up from where he was sorting packages behind the counter. "What are you doing back here already? I told you to go on to Sector nine for another pick-up. We may be overstaffed, but that doesn't mean you can--" And then he raised his eyes. "Holy cow! Where did you come from?"  
  
"Actually, I was made in a lab," Alec said flippantly. "But O.C. here, I've never quite figured out where she came from. How ya been buddy?" Alec held out his hand to his former employer.  
  
"Found these two wandering the street," Sketchy said, a big grin on his face that alleviated some of the weariness in his eyes.  
  
"I heard on the news that a lot of you people had died out on some God forsaken island in the Pacific," Normal said, hurrying around the counter and wiping his hands on a towel. He stopped in front of Alec, a half dozen emotions playing on his face. Then he simply gave up and grabbed his golden boy in a huge hug. "I'm so glad you're not dead," he sobbed against Alec's shoulder.  
  
Alec looked over at O.C., brow creased, a look of mild panic in his eyes. _Help._  
  
O.C. gently took hold of Normal's shoulders and pulled him off his boy. "I'm glad to see you too, Normal," she said.  
  
"Oh," Normal said, noticing her for the first time. "I see you're also alive."  
  
"And kickin'," O.C. said. "Which is what I'm gonna do to your ass if you don't give me one of those big hugs too."  
  
Making a wry face, Normal obliged. "What brings you back here, young man?" he asked. "Seattle isn't exactly a top tourist attraction any more, what with everyone dying and all."  
  
"Everyone isn't dying," Alec said. "It just seems that way. And I see the business is till going strong."  
  
"Not so strong," Normal said. "Barely surviving. But people still need things delivered, even when they're at death's door."  
  
Alec was looking around the locker room. Usually the place would be bustling with couriers going in and out, but he only saw about three messengers in the break room. "This is worse than when Max and me came back to work for you and you lost half your clients," he commented.  
  
"More than half my clients are now dead," Normal said. "Which does tend to put a damper on business."  
  
Alec drew the older man to one side. "You, uh, had the vaccine, Normal?"  
  
He shook his head no. "Couldn't afford to even if I could find a source," he said. "I just figured when my times' up, it's up."  
  
Without a word, O.C. opened the flap of Alec's messenger bag and took out a vial and syringe. Normal's eyes grew even wider than before. "What's that?" he whispered.  
  
"Exactly what you think it is," Alec said. He turned around. "Yo, Sketchy. Come here buddy."  
  
Sketchy ambled over from where he'd been talking to Sky. He saw O.C. administering the shot to Normal and his mouth opened. "Is that--"  
  
"It is, fool," O.C. said blithely. "Now roll up your sleeve, and then go tell Sky to get his bony ass over here."  
  
By the end of the shift they'd vaccinated ten Jam Pony employees. Most were old friends, but a couple of new ones got the gift of life as well. It didn't take long to get rid of the other doses either. Several of the messengers had wives and children. True, they might take the vials and sell them on the black market instead of vaccinating their loved ones, but Alec was willing to chance that.  
  
When they were fresh out of vaccine and ready to leave, Normal stood beside him with tears in his eyes. "I never thought I'd see you again," he said honestly. "And I never dreamed you'd come back like this ... to save my life."  
  
"What are friends for, Normal?" Alec said lightly, uncomfortable with the hero role Normal was casting him in.  
  
"Oh," Normal wailed, throwing his arms around his golden boy again, "you beautiful, beautiful man."  
  
"O.C.!" Alec shouted.  
  
This time it took both her and Sketchy to pry Alec's number one fan away.  
  


*****  


Alec was sitting in his old place at Crash Bar, enjoying a Scotch with Sketchy when he felt the first vague symptoms.  
  
"What's that?" Sketchy asked when he saw Alec uncap the bottle of pills. "Don't tell me you're doin' drugs now?"  
  
"Yeah, Sketch," Alec said. "I'm a hard core addict." He held up the bottle to his friend could see the label.  
  
"What's tryptophan?"  
  
"Health food supplement," Alec replied truthfully. "Keeps my neurotransmitters on line."  
  
"Dude," Sketchy said. "You're shaking."  
  
"I know, Sketch. That's why I'm--"  
  
The pair of hands that suddenly grabbed him from behind caught Alec totally by surprise. Normally, someone would never have been able to sneak up on him like that, but he didn't feel very well and the seizure aura was dulling his senses.  
  
"Hey!" Alec shouted, finding himself flying through the air to land on top of a table. The four people seated there barely managed to salvage their drinks as they quickly scrambled out of the way.  
  
Alec tried to focus his eyes, wondering who on earth was attacking him now. The huge guy lumbering toward him didn't look even vaguely familiar. "Keep away from my woman!" the gorilla shouted.  
  
"What?" Alec shook his head, feeling like he'd just been dumped into the Twilight Zone. "What woman?"  
  
"My woman!" the guy roared, reaching down and dragging Alec up off the floor.  
  
Enough was enough. A quick upward strike broke him free from his attacker's grasp, and an equally lightening fast punch shattered the guy's nose.  
  
"Leave me alone!" Alec yelled as the man staggered backwards, holding his hands to his face as blood gushed. "I've got my own woman to worry about and she's a handful, so I sure as hell don't need yours!"  
  
"Alec!" Sketchy hollered. "Watch out!"  
  
The jolt from the shock prod in his lower back roared through Alec's body like a lightening bolt, the pain paralyzing, the interruption to his nervous system devastating. He fell to his knees ... fumbled with numb fingers for the gun concealed beneath his jacket ...  
  
The second jolt took him to the floor. A third and he was unconscious. And the fourth was administered because the three Sector Policemen who'd witnessed the fight were just plain mean. 

To be continued ...

_Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site. _

Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note 


	7. Hell in Seattle

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: With permission 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 7  
Hell in Seattle**

"What do you mean the police took him away!" O.C. shouted at Sketchy. "Why didn't you do something?"  
  
"Like what?" Sketchy hollered back. "If Alec couldn't take 'em how the hell was I supposed to? They had shock prods O.C., the really big kind, not those little hand held ones. They knocked Alec out and dragged him away. Said something about charging him with assault."  
  
"Figures," O.C. said tiredly. "I step outside for two minutes with a little honey and come back to find my fine boy in a big jam."  
  
"Where's Max?" Sketchy grumbled. "She's gonna hafta fix this."  
  
"Where do you think? At Logan's. We're takin' her ex back to Chimera with us. Max says we need his skills and contacts."  
  
"You better get her," Sketchy said. "Quick."  
  
"What's the hurry? They'll be hours bookin' Alec at the station anyway. Max will figure out a way to spring her man, one way or another. She always does."  
  
"Alec was sick, O.C.."  
  
"What you talkin' about?"  
  
"He was shaking when that big dude attacked him. He was gonna take some pills."  
  
"What pills?" O.C. said, although she already knew the answer.  
  
"These," Sketchy said, holding out the bottle of tryptophan. "I picked this up off the floor and scooped all the pills I could find back into it. Figured it might be important."  
  
O.C. snatched the container out of his hands. "Give me that, fool," she said. But then her eyes softened. "It's a good thing you grabbed it. Alec really needs this stuff. You may have saved his life."  
  
"Really?" Sketchy said, his chest puffing a bit.  
  
O.C. touched his arm. "I'll tell Alec what you did and he's gonna owe you big time. But first, I've gotta get them to him which ain't gonna be easy if he's in jail. You got any idea which precinct house they'd take him to? I heard some of the sector police stations were closed."  
  
"That's just it, O.C.," Sketchy said. "They don't bother holding prisoners downtown any more. They just book 'em in then take 'em straight out to Langford Prison."  
  
"Uh-oh," O.C. said. "Been there, done that. Langford's bad news. Especially if they've still got that wicked warden in charge."  
  
"There's talk about that place," Sketchy said with a shudder. "People go in there and then they're just ... gone. Good thing Alec can take care of himself."  
  
O.C. looked down at the bottle of tryptophan in her hand.  
  
"Oh," Sketchy said lamely. "I see what you mean. If Alec's sick ..."  
  
"I gotta go find Max," O.C. said.  
  
"Let me know if he's okay!" Sketchy called after her, but O.C. was already out the door.  
  


*****  


Alec regained consciousness with someone slapping his face.  
  
"Come on pretty boy! Time to rise and shine! We're sure as hell not carrying you in."  
  
Pulled roughly to his feet, he ended up being half dragged out of the police van. "Wake up!" a voice roared in his ear, so loudly he winced, followed by another slap that made his head spin even worse than it already was. He tried to get his feet to work, to quit stumbling, but he felt like he was drunk, or at least this must be what drunk felt like since he'd never actually been intoxicated. His muscles didn't want to work right. He'd been shocked to the ground only once before in his life -- by Ames White -- and he knew it would take a few hours to recover. But there was something else wrong with him. He couldn't seem to stop shaking.  
  
And then he remembered. The tryptophan.  
  
Shit.  
  
He swallowed hard and tried to relax, letting the guards support some of his weight as he was taken into the precinct house. Hopefully Sketchy would tell O.C. what happened, and O.C. would get Max who would come down and bail him out. Yeah. That's what would happen. Nothing to worry about.  
  
But then Alec raised his head and, squinting in light that seemed too bright, he realized this police station wasn't like any he'd ever been in before. The best word he could find to describe it was "chaos." People were everywhere -- some conscious, some not so conscious, some maybe dead. They were sitting in every chair, against the walls, lying on the floor, and the whole place reeked of vomit and urine and feces.  
  
"What's the charge?" a burly officer bellowed from behind a desk.  
  
"Assault, resisting, and carrying a concealed weapon," his guard replied, giving Alec a hard shove in the back.  
  
"Name?" the booking officer snapped.  
  
Alec, supporting himself by hanging onto the front of the big desk, remained silent and kept looking at the floor, following the orders that had been drilled into him since childhood by Manticore.  
  
_If you're captured by the enemy, say nothing, do nothing, and we'll come and get you.  
_  
Max would be coming for him. Another spasm wracked his body. Hopefully sooner rather than later.  
  
"Get his prints and send him down to Langford," the officer said tiredly, not even pressing the issue. "With charges like those, he's gone for good anyway."  
  


*****  


"What do you mean Alec got arrested?" Max said, her voice beyond incredulous. "He couldn't-- He wouldn't-- He didn't--"  
  
"He could, he would, and he did," O.C. said, standing with hands on hips in the living room of "Father's house," the place where Joshua had stayed so many months and where Logan still kept his personal computer equipment.  
  
"The idiot," Max said disgustedly. "Of all the dumb ass things to do ..."  
  
"According to Sketchy it wasn't our boy's fault," O.C. said. "He was jumped from behind by some crazy jealous type just lookin' to pick a fight."  
  
"Well, he should have been able to handle a little brawl without getting arrested," Max snapped.  
  
"Didn't help that Alec was trippin' out on that serotonin deficiency," O.C. said quietly.  
  
"What?" Max said, her face paling slightly.  
  
"Sketchy said Alec had the shakes and was gonna take some of that tryptophan. But then he got jumped, shock prodded, and hauled away." She reached into her bag. "Here's his pills. Won't do him no good now though. And Sketchy said he never managed to swallow any before the shit hit the fan either."  
  
"Logan?" Max said, turning to the older man who was seated at his computer terminal, a plea in her voice. "Which precinct would he have been taken to? Alec can probably handle himself. I'm not really worried, but ... we need to get him back, especially if he's sick."  
  
Logan adjusted his glasses on his nose and, with a grim expression, began typing on the keyboard. "Here it is," he said a moment later, his scowl deepening. "As usual, Alec's in pretty deep. He was taken to Precinct 12, booked as a 'John Doe' but the description matches." He turned around and looked at Max. "They've already transferred him to Langford. With charges like his it will be months before he gets to trial, if ever. Most likely they'll put him on one of the slave details and keep him until he dies. That's what happens to most prisoners nowadays. With the plague killing so many, the justice system has become a source of cheap manual labor -- any warm body they can snatch on any kind of charge will do. And they get away with it because there's no one left to protest, no one who even really cares except maybe the friends and families of the prisoners who disappear."  
  
"Sounds like Eyes Only ought to be on this," O.C. said with a pointed look at Logan.  
  
"Eyes Only retired a long time ago," Logan replied, his voice strangely flat. "You might say he lost his incentive." The words were for O.C., but he was looking at Max.  
  
"Just ... see if you can find his record at Langford," Max said. "We need to be certain he's there. Then I'll go in and--"  
  
"You will not!" Logan said hotly. "No way can you risk yourself, Max. You're the only hope the world has for survival. It was bad enough Alec almost got you killed on that museum job you insisted on doing, and your leg still isn't healed."  
  
"Alec _didn't_ almost get me killed," Max said levelly. "He saved me."  
  
"That's not how I heard it," Logan said, his eyes cold behind the lenses of his glasses. "He just started shooting, and you got caught in the crossfire."  
  
"Logan's right about one thing, Boo," O.C. said, playing peacemaker between the two. "You can't do the rescue thing this time. It wouldn't make sense what with your leg hurt and all. They'd have both of you then."  
  
"Alec needs help, and he needs it now," Max insisted. "O.C., you know how I was when I didn't get my tryptophan. Well, Alec's that bad already. His seizures are only going to get worse. Eventually, he'll fall into a coma and die. I've got to get this to him." She held up the bottle of pills.  
  
"I'll do it," O.C. said. "I've been in there before. I know the routine. Just get me a low-cut dress, some hip boots, and a high hairdo."  
  
"No," Logan said. "It's too dangerous for either of you. Like I said, things have changed for the worse at Langford. It's no place for women. You'll end up in slavery at an overseas brothel or in a third world prostitution ring. Even Alec might not fare much better. He's young and extremely good looking. He'll be noticed, used."  
  
Max 's heart started to pound. Logan was right. And with Alec incapacitated he wouldn't be able to defend himself. He'd be helpless. When seizures take hold of a transgenic all strength, speed, and agility vanish. Muscles are paralyzed, feline DNA is rendered useless, and the body becomes weaker than the most pathetic of ordinaries.  
  
"Who can help him then?" O.C. asked. "If not Max and me?"  
  
Logan looked at the phone on the desk. "I can think of someone. Lord knows he's helped Alec out of enough messes before this."  
  
"No," Max said, knowing exactly who Logan was referring to. "I don't trust him."  
  
"He saved Alec from Renfro," Logan pointed out. "Twice to be precise. And from White, not to mention those Middle Eastern mercenaries. Should I go on?"  
  
"You sayin' Donald Lydecker's Alec's guardian angel?" O.C. commented, her perfect dark eyebrows raised.  
  
"Might as well be for all the times he's saved your lover boy's ass," Logan replied. He waited a moment, giving them time to think. "Lydecker's in town," he prodded. "I can reach him." His eyes flickered. "Riley's with him in fact. I was supposed to meet them tomorrow. Time for a transfusion."  
  
Max cringed at the mention of Logan's so-called bodyguard, an X-5 named Riley who, due to some extreme re-indoctrination procedures, now had the mental capacity of a five-year-old. X5-533 did, however, make a convenient source for the transgenic blood that kept Logan on his feet -- literally -- one of the things that made Alec so homicidal toward the former Eyes Only.  
  
She thought a moment more about Alec, remembered her own experience with seizures while being held at Langford, and knew she had no choice.  
  
"Call the Devil," she said.  


To be continued ...

_There is one upcoming chapter in this story that might not be acceptable for fanfiction.net's new guidelines. Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety as I write the story is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site. _

Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note 


	8. Too Little, Too Late

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: With permission 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 8  
Too Little, Too Late**

"Christ! Nearly a four hundred I.Q. between them, and I swear if it wasn't for ordinary humans like us those two might just as well go live in a zoo!"  
  
Logan was nodding in agreement with Donald Lydecker's words, and to Max's consternation, so was O.C.  
  
"Hey," Max said tartly. "I resent that. We can take care of ourselves -- usually."  
  
"Which is why the always unpredictable but ever-so-charismatic 494--"  
  
"Alec." Max corrected.  
  
"Pardon me," Lydecker said icily. "Which is why the always unpredictable but ever-so-charismatic 'Alec' is at this very moment probably being made somebody's bitch in Langford Prison." He rounded on Max before she could protest. "And don't tell me it wasn't his fault. That boy's a trained soldier. He knows perfectly well how to take care of himself but he still keeps managing to get in the damnedest ..." Words seemed to fail him.  
  
"Pickles?" O.C. offered helpfully.  
  
"Situations," Lydecker said with a glare at the dark skinned girl. "Let's see." He began counting off on his fingers. "There have been foreign mercenaries twice, and the Familiars too many times to count. Wasn't he supposed to be a human sacrifice at one point? Not many soldiers I know can lay claim to that. And we won't even talk about the bizarre, and ultimately fatal, attraction he was for the late Madam Renfro. And, oh yes, amnesia wasn't it? Then there was your latest museum shoot-out complete with spectacular acrobatics off a balcony that made the front page of the Miami Herald the next day. Didn't notice the photographer lurking in the wings, did you? Oh, and should I mention him being Prophecy Boy, the Protector of Mankind?"  
  
"Stop," Max said, burying her face in her hands. "You've made your point. "Alec tends to get into trouble. We all know this."  
  
"It's sort of like a gift," O.C. chimed in. "Or maybe a super power? I don't know. You're the guys who built him. What did you add in his mix? A dash of Tasmanian devil maybe? That would explain a lot."  
  
Logan was checking his computer screen again. "A batch of new prisoners were dumped in Langford late last night. Caucasian male, no name, age approximately 24, six feet tall, 175 pounds, light brown hair, green eyes, identifying marks bar code tattoo on the back of neck, flagged as a possible transgenic, CDC to be notified." He looked up. "Sound like anyone we know?"  
  
"They're going to ship him off to the CDC?" Max said.  
  
"Eventually, maybe," Logan replied. He leaned back in his chair and ran fingers through his thinning hair. "With everything so chaotic and so many people dying the transgenic threat has sort of gone on the back burner. I imagine it'll be weeks, if not months, before anyone really bothers deciding if--" He glanced at the screen. "--prisoner 1126798 is a transgenic or not. In the meantime it looks like they've just thrown him in with the general population."  
  
"Not good," O.C. said. "Not with him sick."  
  
"Not good at all," Lydecker agreed grimly. He looked at Max. "How's the leg?"  
  
"Just like new," Max lied.  
  
"Then come with me," he said. "I don't have much authority any more, but my I.D. ought to at least get us past the front desk. Once inside we'll have to find him and figure out a way to get him out." Lydecker took a gun out of the inside pocket of his bomber jacket and checked the clip.  
  
"What's this going to cost us?" Max asked. "You're not helping just out of the goodness of your heart."  
  
Lydecker's lips turned up in a tired smile. "My price is that I want you and Alec to quit lying to me about the situation on Chimera, and quit trying to scam Sandeman. We're all supposed to be on the same side here. I know it's difficult for you, Alec, and the others to trust anyone, but we're really way beyond that now." He looked directly into her eyes. "I need my kids on board."  
  
"We're on board," Max said quietly.  
  
"Good," he said. "Then let's go get our boy."  
  


*****  


Strip searched, body cavity searched, hosed down, and doused with lice spray that got in his eyes and stung like hell, Alec finally found his clothes shoved back in his arms just in time to be literally thrown onto the cold cement floor of Langford Prison's general population ward.  
  
He managed to get his jeans back on, and his boots, but someone grabbed his t-shirt and jacket, vanishing with them into the crowd before he could even try to stop them. Shivering in the unheated compound from something far more dangerous than the cold, he braced his bare back against the wall and slowly slid to the floor, sitting with arms wrapped around his naked shoulders, trying to keep watch and keep warm at the same time.  
  
Alec could feel the seizures building, each series of spasms subtly stronger than the last. He'd never been this long without taking tryptophan before, and honestly didn't know how badly his body was going to betray him. But what worried him most was the way the other prisoners were eying him, like a pack of hyenas waiting for its prey to weaken just a little bit more. Sinking lower on the wall, he hugged himself more tightly and rested his chin on his knees, his own eyes wary.  
  
One of the guards was looking at him, and a moment later motioned to a prisoner and nodded in his direction. Six foot five if he was an inch, 250 pounds, with enough tattoos to double as clothing, the inmate grinned, then started walking toward him.  
  
Alec readied himself, trying to summon enough strength to at least climb to his feet, but his legs were trembling too badly and his head hurt so much he felt like he was going to boot his breakfast.  
  
So instead he closed his eyes, wishing fervently that this was just a bad dream, that it would all to go away -- but the voice came anyway.  
  
"Well, well, what do we have here?"  
  
Calloused fingers pawed his shoulder and Alec jerked away.  
  
"Smooth as a baby's behind," the leering voice said.  
  
"Leave me alone," Alec growled. He opened his eyes and looked up. "I'm sick."  
  
That gave the other prisoner pause -- not surprising considering there was a killer plague on the loose.  
  
But then the leering grin was back. "They wouldn't have let you in here if you had the Snakes," he said. "Your blood test would've shown if the poison was in you."  
  
_Snakes._ Alec had never heard the plague referred to as that, but it was oddly appropriate considering snakes were the host animal for the pathogen, the way the Familiars' breeding cult had cultivated the virus all those millennia just waiting for the right moment to unleash it on mankind.  
  
There _had_ been a blood test, he remembered -- during the humiliating medical exam he'd been put through. It would have shown him immune.  
  
"Come on," the bigger man said, grabbing Alec's arm and hauling him up. "You're pretty enough for the warden. He'll pay well for a fresh young thing like you."  
  
At any other time in his life Alec knew he could have killed this guy in two seconds, but to his humiliation he found he couldn't even make his weak and shaking limbs move enough to resist.  
  
"Warden's gonna enjoy himself tonight," the prisoner said. "He likes 'em young and hard and tight, if you get my meanin'." He moved one hand lower and gripped Alec's ass through his jeans. "And it seems to me you'll be plenty tight."  
  
_This can't be happening to me. I'm a soldier. I'm Manticore. No one beats me. No one rapes me. Max ... Help me.  
  
_He was half carried, half dragged down a long corridor behind the cell block to what appeared to be a private wing of the prison. "Don't worry," his tattooed escort said. "They say it only hurts real bad the first time. After that you can just sort of lie there and take it."  
  
Alec knew he had to at least try. Summoning all of his remaining strength, he got his feet under himself and twisted in the big man's grip, striking a blow at that ugly face. The next thing he knew his own face was being ground into the dirty floor, one hand firmly on the back of his neck, the other twisting his arm in a hammerlock.  
  
"You don't wanna struggle," a voice hissed in his ear. "'Cause, ya see, if you fight back the warden's got these ways of makin' you do things ... drugs and such. And he can also make it hurt a whole lot more."  
  
Alec closed his eyes. He felt like he was going to be sick.  
  
"O'Brian," a woman's voice said from up ahead. "What are you doing?"  
  
"Just bringing the warden some fresh meat, Marissa."  
  
Alec couldn't move his head, but he opened his eyes and looked up to see a pretty young woman with grey eyes and close cropped red hair standing in the middle of the corridor. Actually, woman was an overstatement. She was barely more than a girl, maybe sixteen years old. She knelt down beside him and turned her head sideways so she could look in his eyes.  
  
"Is this the one they were talking about?" she asked. "The one with the bar code?"  
  
"What do you mean?" O'Brian asked.  
  
With O'Brian still holding his head in a death grip, she reached out and brushed the long hair covering his bar code aside.  
  
"Well, I'll be damned," O'Brian said. "It's one of them transgenics. But I thought they were supposed to be freak supersoldiers with all this strength and speed." He shoved Alec's face deeper into the floor. "Not much super strength in this one."  
  
"He looks sick," Marissa said, her voice oddly dispassionate. "The warden won't want him if he's sick." She hesitated then-- "Take him to my room. I'll see what's wrong with him, maybe make him better so he'll be of some use."  
  
"Whatever you say, Marissa," O'Brian agreed.  
  


*****  


The bed Alec fell into was pathetic as far as beds went, but it felt so much better than the cold cement floor he wasn't about to complain. Marissa drew a thin blanket up over his shaking shoulders then reached out and brushed the hair off his forehead with her hand, checking his temperature.  
  
"You're burning up," she said.  
  
"I don't have a fever."  
  
"Then what's wrong with you?" she said. "You're sure not healthy."  
  
"Seizure," Alec got out. "I need some milk if you can get it."  
  
"Milk would help?"  
  
Alec nodded and clutched the blankets closer around himself. The spasms were deepening, and he didn't know how much longer he could remain conscious. If he passed out he'd be completely helpless. The warden might come in and--  
  
"I won't be able to keep you from the warden for long," Marissa said as if knowing what he was thinking.  
  
"Are you his ...?" Alec bit down hard on his lower lip, willing his muscles to quiet. "Are you ...?"  
  
"Yes," Marissa said. "But at least it keeps me off the main floor. I also have my own room and plenty to eat."  
  
"If he's got you, then why does he want me?" Alec gasped, finding it increasingly difficult to talk.  
  
"Because sometimes he likes boys," Marissa said matter-of-factly. "And you're really pretty." She stood up. "I can get some milk. I'll be back."  
  
It seemed like she was gone forever. While he waited, Alec concentrated on the blanket clutched in his tight fist, counting the rows of fibers, deciphering the weave, anything to keep his mind focused on something other than the fact he was probably going to be raped, and then he was going to die, and he'd never see his family ... Max ... his son ... again.  
  
_Max, help me._  
  
When Marissa returned he grabbed the glass of milk off the tray and gulped it like a junkie getting a fix.  
  
"It's your lack of serotonin, isn't it?" she said.  
  
Alec, his lips and chin dripping with white liquid, looked up at her in surprise.  
  
"They say the transgenics lack serotonin in their brains and can suffer seizures. It was on one of the science programs the warden sometimes watches. I remember now about the base body temperature too. One hundred one point six -- three degrees higher than a human's, which is why you feel so warm to me. You _are_ a transgenic, right? The bar code?"_  
  
_Alec knew it was probably his imagination, but the milk seemed to be helping a little, either that or the seizure cycle was winding down for now. Exhausted, every muscle in his body on fire, he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, curled into a fetal position beneath the blanket, and answered her.  
  
"Yeah. I'm a transgenic."  
  
"X5?"  
  
"X5."  
  
"The best Manticore made."  
  
That surprised him. "You sound like you admire us," he mumbled, his voice thick and husky with exhaustion.  
  
"I do, in a way."  
  
"Most people hate us, at the very least are afraid of us."  
  
"I'm not afraid of you."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Probably because I know so much about your kind." Marissa glanced at the closed door behind her, then came over to the cot and knelt down beside him. "When I first heard about the transgenics I was fascinated. I read all of the newspapers and magazine stories, watched all the shows on television, even went down to Terminal City and tried to get a glimpse of you guys."  
  
"It's always nice to have fans," Alec muttered. He was getting sleepy, his eyes growing heavy.  
  
"You're supposedly perfect," Marissa said, lightly stroking his cheek with her fingers.  
  
Alec shivered at the touch, and he forced his eyes open again. His sixth sense, the empathic ability he seemed to have, was trying to tell him something. And his empathy was never, ever wrong. There was danger here.  
  
"The warden's really going to like you," she said softly, her breath tickling his ear.  
  
Alec tried to raise his head but felt like a lead weight was pulling him down. "The milk," he gasped. "You put something in the milk."  
  
"Rohypnol," Marissa said. "You know what that is don't you, 494? On the street they call it the date rape drug. Roofies? Technically it's a sleeping pill, but it has this way of knocking you half out, taking away all inhibitions, making it so you don't struggle ... you get the picture. It'll help you get through the night with the warden. Look at it as a favor. This way you'll hardly know what's happening to you." She was still stroking his face. "Oh, and I made it a double dose considering you're a transgenic and all. Couldn't risk you being able to fight back."  
  
494. She'd called him 494.  
  
Summoning strength from he didn't know where, Alec's hand blurred and he grabbed the girl around the throat. "Who are you?" he snarled.  
  
She was choking too much to speak and he eased his grip. And then she was smiling, the look in her grey eyes maniacally happy. "I told you," she giggled. "My name's Marissa. Marissa Lehane."  
  
"Lehane?" Alec's eyes widened even as his fingers slipped from her neck, the Rohypnol kicking in, stealing that last tiny bit of strength.  
  
"Yes," she said, her voice growing cruel and hard. "Lehane. My brother was Simon Lehane. Remember him, 494? That handsome, gentle young boy you murdered so you could steal his identity? I've waited a long time to meet you -- the hideous monster who killed my dear sweet brother. It's really rather ironic don't you think, that I finally find you here, under these circumstances? One might even say it's poetic justice. And you can't imagine how much I'm going to enjoy watching what the warden does to you tonight." She giggled. "He likes me to watch. Really, he does."  
  
Alec's heart was beating so fast he felt as if it would burst through his chest. Never in his life had he been so helpless ... so hopeless ... not even when he'd been in White's vicious clutches or undergoing torture at Manticore.  
  
"Marissa ... I ..."  
  
"Shhh," she said, putting a finger to his lips and glancing back at the door. The knob was turning. "The warden's here. I told him I'd have you ready. Just remember when he's hurting you ... doing it to you ... the pain and terror my brother must have felt while you strangled him."  
  
The door began to open.  


To be continued ...

_There is one upcoming chapter in this story that might not be acceptable for fanfiction.net's new guidelines. Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety as I write the story is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site. _

Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note 


	9. Cold Blood

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: With permission 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 9  
Cold Blood**

A red haired girl was standing beside the cot where Alec lay. Frozen with surprise, she stared at the two people in the doorway.  
  
"Alec!" Max cried, but Lydecker's grip on her arm held her back. His keen eyes, unclouded by emotion, had seen what she'd missed -- the small derringer the girl was holding in her hand.  
  
Lydecker drew his weapon, but the girl was quicker. Falling to her knees on the floor beside the cot, she brutally twisted her fist in Alec's hair and jabbed the barrel of her miniature gun behind his ear. Alec, eyes half closed, his breathing ragged, made a small sound of pain, but other than that barely moved.  
  
"One step closer and I pull the trigger," she said coldly. "This toy may not have much firepower, but I guarantee you it's enough to drill a hole through his fucking transgenic brain."  
  
"Why are you doing this to him?" Max asked evenly. "Who are you?"  
  
"Who are _you_?" the young woman shot back in return. She smiled an ugly smile. "Let me guess. Unit mate? Partner? Girlfriend maybe? His whore? You look like the type he'd fuck. Definitely another transgenic." She studied Lydecker. "And you must be the big Manticore boss -- the CO -- come to rescue your precious soldier boy."  
  
"What do you know about transgenics?" Lydecker asked quietly, the gun in his hand not wavering.  
  
"Lots," she said. "You might say I've made a study of them over the past few years."  
  
"Why?" Max asked.  
  
"Because a transgenic murdered my brother."  
  
"So now you want to murder Alec in return just because he's a transgenic?"  
  
The girl looked down at the the man she had at her mercy. "Alec? Is that what 494 calls himself now? He used to go by another name -- the name he stole from Simon. How long did it take you to teach this animal to play the piano anyway?"  
  
Lydecker's sharp intake of breath told volumes. Max looked at him. "You know what she's talking about?"  
  
He nodded. "Simon Lehane," he said, speaking to the demented girl, his voice emotionless. "You must be Marissa. We knew he had a younger sister, his only family."  
  
Marissa didn't look up, keeping her finger on the trigger of the little gun that in a fraction of a second could end Alec's life. "Simon _was_ my brother," she said, her voice clouding with tears. "And this fucking bastard killed him for nothing." She raised her eyes. "How could you have created monsters like this? Creatures without souls who destroy the loved ones of others. Oh, he probably thought I'd never know who he was, but I had a little talk with Robert Berrisford. He told me about Manticore, about the X5 who'd masqueraded as Simon. Even showed me a picture he'd taken from a videotape. This son of a bitch sneaked up behind my brother, wrapped a wire around his neck, and--"  
  
"Stop!" Max said loudly. "You're wrong! Alec's not a killer! He could never have--" She stopped speaking, suddenly noticing the expression on Lydecker's face.  
  
The older man was looking intently at Marissa, his eyes infinitely sad. "Don't blame 494," he said quietly. "He was just a soldier following orders. If you want the man who really murdered your brother, then blame me. I'm the one who gave the command. I'm the one who ordered X5-494 to assassinate Simon Lehane."  
  
Confused, Marissa wavered, looking from the barely conscious transgenic lying on the cot to the Manticore commander. "Fine," she finally said. "Then I'll just have to kill both--"  
  
The deafening sound of the gunshot cut Marissa's words off in mid sentence. Her eyes wide with shock, she looked down to see a crimson stain blossoming across the front of her prison issue dress.  
  
"I'm sorry," Lydecker whispered, the gun smoking in his hand. "I truly am sorry. But my kids are what they are, and I have to protect them."  
  


*****   


"He killed her, didn't he?"  
  
"Yes," Max said, knowing there was no use denying the fact to Alec. He'd been there afterall, although not coherent.  
  
He turned his head away from her on the pillow, cradling his face on his hands. "You should have let her shoot me. I deserved it for what I did to her brother."  
  
He sounded devastated, much as he'd been when confronted by Robert Berrisford over what he'd done to Rachel. For a moment Max hesitated, almost believing the act. But that's exactly what it was -- an elaborate act. Alec was an expert liar, a skilled con artist, and a near genius when it came to influencing the emotions of those around him. It was his greatest strength in a way, his ability to manipulate people ... manipulate her.  
  
Oh, undoubtedly he felt bad about Marissa ... about Simon too, but in the back of her mind Max still remembered something Alec had said to her so long ago back at Manticore, when she'd first met him and accused him of being an assassin.  
  
_It was my job._  
  
And she also remembered something he'd said to her in a police station interrogation room.  
  
_Do you really think I could kill someone in cold blood?_  
  
She'd told him at the time that she thought him capable of that very thing. She'd meant it, and she'd been right. Alec _had_ killed in cold blood. He'd killed Simon Lehane, viciously garroting him and stealing his identity.  
  
_You did what you had to in order to survive. Then you tried to forget. And when you couldn't forget, they had ways of making you not care._  
  
Alec had cared about Rachel and his guilt over her death had nearly destroyed him. He couldn't allow himself to care that way about Simon Lehane, or about Marissa either. If he did he'd go insane. So instead, he kept a barrier firmly in place in his mind, a shield around his conscience, a wall of excuses that began and ended with the words "It was my job."  
  
It was the only way out for Alec, the only way he could live with himself .  
  
Max knew this. She knew there was a limit to her man's ability to forgive his own transgressions. If she pushed him, if she tried to make him feel more guilty than he already did, she might end up forcing him somewhere he could never return from -- the place where his brother Ben had gone.  
  
The old Max, the one who existed before X5-494 came into her life, would have spitefully harassed him over the edge. But the Max who now loved this man was willing to let it go.  
  
"Shhh," she said, wrapping her arms around Alec's still trembling body. "It's all right. I know what you did, and why you did it. I know you had no choice. You don't have to pretend with me, Alec. You don't have to lie. It was your job. You had orders. If you hadn't killed him, they would have killed you. And you were so young you didn't know any other way."  
  
He turned his head, looking at her over his shoulder, disbelief in his hazel-green eyes. "You understand?"  
  
"I understand."  
  
"You know why his death doesn't bother me like Rachel's, even though it probably should? That doesn't make me evil? Or like Ben?"  
  
"It doesn't make you evil," Max said, kissing him tenderly on the cheek. "It makes you sane."  
  


*****  


It had been comically easy for them to get Alec out of jail. Logan had provided fake CDC credentials for Lydecker. All the older man had to do was flash his I.D., mutter something about a transgenic in the prison being a biohazard, and the guards had gladly waved them on their way, going so far as to help carry the "filth" to Lydecker's car.  
  
Marissa's death, sadly, had meant nothing to anyone. The evidence was clear. She'd had a concealed weapon and she'd tried to murder a public official who'd been forced to shoot her in self defense. End of story.  
  
Ironically, the Rohypnol Marissa gave him had been Alec's salvation, or so Lydecker believed -- the powerful sedative preventing the seizures from fatally escalating -- the girl's final act on Earth saving the very life she so badly wanted to destroy.  
  
Now, 24 hours and two dozen tryptophan tablet later, Alec was sitting on the side of the bed and pulling on his boots, weak but once more in control of his body. Their plane was leaving from Vancouver that evening and it was time to get going. A sound in the doorway made him look up.  
  
"You're not happy about me coming to Chimera, are you?" Logan said.  
  
"Not deliriously, no," Alec replied. He narrowed his eyes at the older man. "You know, there was a time we weren't like this, Logan. You and me. There was a time we were almost friends."  
  
"And you wonder what happened?"  
  
"Sometimes. I mean, I know you think I stole your girl and all, but I'm not a bad guy, Logan, and you aren't either -- or at least you didn't used to be. And we do have one really important thing in common."  
  
"Max."  
  
"Max." Alec agreed. "We both love her. We'd both die to protect her. Seems to me we ought to be on the same side."  
  
There, Alec thought. He'd done it. He'd offered an olive branch.  
  
Logan looked into the hallway behind him, making certain no one was there to overhear. Then he smiled and softly said, "Nice try, Alec. Okay then. For Max's sake we can be friends ... at least until you die." And with those ominous words, he turned around and walked away.  
  
Alec sighed heavily and looked at the floor.  
  
"You did try," Lydecker said from the alcove across the room where he'd been standing and listening. He looked in the direction where Logan Cale had gone. "Do you think he means it?"  
  
Alec raised an eyebrow.  
  
"I'm serious," Lydecker said. "Use your senses the way you were taught, soldier. Is Cale a true enemy, or is he all talk?"  
  
"On a practical level he's all talk," Alec said. "The only way he'd really try to kill me would be through some kind of inaction, and only then if he could make it look like it was an accident or at the very least not his fault."  
  
Lydecker nodded. "That's your trained assessment and it's a good one. I agree. However, what's your gut feeling?"  
  
"You mean empathic?" Alec smiled a little. "That thing the psi-ops people said I wasn't supposed to be able to do because it's not in my data base, but that I _can_ do because Sandeman did some tampering with their science projects behind their backs?"  
  
"Ah yes, creating an empathic assassin was such a brilliant move on the old geezer's part," Lydecker said sarcastically. "Feeling the pain of your targets is oh so very useful."  
  
"Tell me about it."  
  
"But getting back to Cale?"  
  
Alec raised his eyes to his former CO's. "Logan hates me so much it hurts to be in the same room with him, and someday I _will_ have to kill him." 

To be continued ...

_There is one upcoming chapter in this story that might not be acceptable for fanfiction.net's new guidelines. Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety as I write the story is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site. _

Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note 


	10. Heat Two

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: No 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 10  
Heat Two**

There was an ice storm coming in off the Pacific and all flights had been grounded for at least 12 hours. Since von Schnelling's smuggling facilities didn't have any waiting areas except for a minuscule office and a drafty, freezing hangar the five decided to risk spending the night in the main terminal where there were at least vending machines and bathroom facilities. Afterall, there were plenty of others stranded as well. No one would notice a few more weary travelers.  
  
"Hold your nose when you go in there, sugar," O.C. said to Max as her friend came out of the ladies' room. "That place is nasty. I know we're in a worldwide panic and all, but you'd at least think someone could get out the Tidy Bowl and a brush."  
  
"Thanks for the warning," Max said wrinkling her nose. Even though it was chilly in the terminal and passengers were sitting around in the chairs and on the floor huddled in blankets, she was carrying her leather jacket over one arm. "Why is it so hot in here?"  
  
"It ain't, hot that is," O.C. said. She put a hand on Max's brow. "You're burnin' up girl. You ain't sick are you?"  
  
"I don't think so," Max said, fanning herself with her hand. "I don't feel bad, just ... kinda weird. Where did Alec go anyway?"  
  
"Where do you think? He went with Logan and the Devil to the bar, not that I blame the boys. There ain't nothin' else to do in this place so we might as well get drunk. Think I'll join 'em myself in fact. You comin'?"  
  
"I'm coming," Max said quietly, looking intently through the glass partition of the airport lounge to where she could see Alec sitting with Logan and Lydecker at a table in the back of the room. "Unfortunately, I think that might be the problem."  
  


*****  


Alec took a sip of Scotch and slouched back further in his chair, sprawling his feet out beneath the table and accidentally bumping Logan's leg.  
  
"Sorry," he mumbled.  
  
Logan shot him a look and inched a bit further away, nursing his own drink between his hands.  
  
Lydecker downed the last of his club soda on the rocks and shook his head wearily. "Why don't you buy your own plane?" he asked. "Why rely on these ... criminals for transportation."  
  
Alec made a wry face. "Eh, I thought about it. We could afford to buy the plane, but then there's the problem of maintainin' a hangar on the mainland since we couldn't land on the island, not to mention repairs and fuel and such. And I don't wanna be tied down servin' as a chauffeur so we'd still hafta hire a pilot. All-in-all too much bother and long term expense."  
  
"You could find yourself trapped," Lydecker pointed out. "If something happened to your connection here, say he got arrested, then you'd be scrambling."  
  
Alec shrugged. "Maybe. But there's always the commercial flights. It's not like the freaks need to fly Delta very often, and the X's like Max and me can pass without much trouble so long as our papers are in order."  
  
Lydecker conceded the point, and Alec turned his attention to Logan. "By the way, I meant to tell you to not expect anyone on Chimera to play Red Cross blood donor for you."  
  
"I understand," Logan said quietly. "Although, since you wouldn't let me bring Riley I hope you realize this means I'll probably be back in a wheelchair within a month."  
  
"I realize," Alec said flatly. "But it can't be helped. 'Sides, you've still got the exoskeleton so it's not like you'll be immobilized or anything. And remember, you're the one who wanted to live on the island."  
  
"It _could_ be helped," Logan said softly. "If you wanted it to. And if you'll recall, it was _Max_ who issued the invitation and insisted I come, a little detail you seem to like to forget."  
  
Alec looked over at Lydecker, then stood up glass in hand. "I'm gettin' another drink."  
  
"Get me another too," Lydecker said, handing his glass and a couple of bills to Alec. "Club soda, fresh ice."  
  
Alec laughed. "Gee, I've gotta say, I never thought I'd see the day I was out drinkin' with my CO, the dreaded Donald Lydecker. They sorta frowned on that kind of fraternization back at Manticore, not to mention the alcohol part." He shook his empty glass. "Would have gotten me at least a week in solitary."  
  
"_Former_ CO" Lydecker corrected him. "Although I'm still technically your handler. And as I recall you spent plenty of time in solitary anyway, not that it ever helped your attitude."  
  
"Oh, the good old days," Alec said glibly as he headed for the bar whistling a refrain from the tune "Memories."  
  
Lydecker watched him as he walked across the crowded floor. Then he turned his head just in time to see Max come through the door. Sweating profusely, she was carrying her leather jacket slung over one arm, looking absolutely breathtaking in a sleeveless tank top that did almost nothing to hide the natural beauty of her body and the fact she wasn't wearing a bra. She saw them at the table, but her eyes slid away to stare hungrily at Alec who was waiting for the bartender to refill his glass. There was something about her ... an almost panicked air ... Mentally Lydecker counted off the months in his mind. How long had it been since she'd stopped nursing Brac?  
  
"Oh no." he said under his breath as he suddenly noticed something else as well.  
  
"What?" Logan asked, looking Max's way. "What's wrong."  
  
"Trouble."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"That," Lydecker said, rising from his chair just as an athletically built, good looking young man headed in Max's direction, his pick-up line practically hanging in a cartoon bubble over his head.  
  
Lydecker intercepted the dark haired would-be Romeo before he reached his objective. "You don't want to do that, son," he said, taking hold of the boy's arm.  
  
The young man jerked away. "Mind your own business pops," he said nastily. "It's gonna be a long night and looks to me like that babe is just cruisin' for a stud like me to spend it with." He eyed Lydecker coldly. "'Sides. I've got a room in the Hilton. Spent a wad on it, and I'm not sleepin' alone."  
  
"She's not a hooker."  
  
"Oh yeah? Well, what is she then, your daughter?"  
  
"No, but I'm responsible for her, and at the moment I'm responsible for you too."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
Lydecker nodded toward the bar. "You see that young man over there? Tall, brown hair, leather jacket? The one waiting for his drink?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Lydecker took hold of the boy's shirt front and hauled him behind a decorative support pillar. "Well, that girl you're panting over happens to belong to him. You touch her, you so much as look at her, and he'll tear your head off."  
  
"He doesn't look so tough to me," the kid said, jerking away from Lydecker's grip. "I think I could take him."  
  
Lydecker's palm against his chest held him in place. "He'll kill you. Without a thought, without so much as blinking he'll kill you if you even approach her."  
  
"What is he, some kind of super secret agent?" the boy sneered. "Or maybe he's one of those revved up transgenic freaks that used to be in Seattle, part kitty cat with the strength of ten men."  
  
"Three men," Lydecker said emotionlessly. "He has the strength of three men. Ten is an exageration, although with his advanced martial arts and military training I suppose it might seem that way to some."  
  
The boy's eyes had grown wide. "And the girl?" he asked. "You tellin' me that super babe is a freak too?"  
  
"She's his mate. And if you get between them, especially tonight, you'll be torn to pieces."  
  
"Geez," the kid said, shaking Lydecker's hand off. "I can take a hint." And with one wistful backwards glance at what he wasn't going to have in his bed, he walked away.   
  
Lydecker sagged with relief. Disaster averted. The last thing they needed was to attract attention to themselves with a bar room brawl. It was going to be hard enough getting through the night with Max in her condition, especially since all the hotels were booked solid and they couldn't get a room. Public copulation was at the very least a first degree misdemeanor in Canada, maybe even a felony. However, with Max in heat and Alec about to find out, there probably was no way around breaking the law tonight. 

To be continued ...

_Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site. _

Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note 


	11. More Heat

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: No 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 11  
More Heat**

Unfortunately, this chapter can't be posted at fanfiction.net due to their new regulations. Chapter 11 is, however, available by request (and statement that you are of legal age -- 17 or older) through my home page: 

http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html 

Sorry for the inconvenience. 

Valjean 

P.S. For those of you who do not wish to read this chapter, the only plot advancement is that Max is worried she may not be able to have more children. 


	12. Seizure

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: No 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 12  
Seizure**

"What happened?" Max said, slightly breathless from running the length of the island's main compound, the dock located nearly half a mile from the their quarters.  
  
And then she saw him, lying on the boardwalk, his head cradled in Joshua's lap.  
  
"Max, you need to get here fast," Mole had said on the radio. "Alec's down."  
  
_Alec's down._ His mercenary team was just back from a major mission, a raid on a Familiar munitions dump in France set up by Lydecker. He'd been hurt, probably shot, Max thought as she sprinted the distance. Idiot. He was so careless sometimes, not watching, not paying attention, putting his life in danger. A tear formed in the corner of her eye as the thoughts ran through her head. It wouldn't matter except ... she loved him so damn much.  
  
She dropped to her knees beside Joshua, her eyes and hands immediately reaching out to her lover, searching for wounds. The others on the team were standing in a concerned circle around their fallen comrade. "Was he shot?" she asked. But then Max saw the tremors.  
  
"Shit," she whispered, resting her hand lightly on Alec's forearm, feeling the stiffness as the muscles contracted and released uncontrollably. He'd been okay for several weeks, hardly any spasms at all, the tryptophan doing its job. "Alec!" she said, taking hold of his shoulders and giving him a little shake. "Alec, can you hear me?" She turned to Joshua. "How long? How long has he been like this?"  
  
"He suddenly just fell down," Joshua said, his voice low and worried, his blue eyes filled with concern. "He was fine ... joking about how dumb the guards were at the warehouse. Then he grabbed at the railing and ... just fell down.  
  
Alec's head hung limply, his eyes closed, but at the sound of her voice his lids fluttered. "Alec," Max repeated, shaking him a little bit harder. "Come on. Come back to me."  
  
He took a deep shaky breath and then a pair of wide, hazel-green eyes were staring up at her. His pupils were way too dilated, Max thought. But it was the look of fear in those green depths that tore at her very soul. It took a lot to frighten Alec ...  
  
"Max," he got out. And then another spasm wracked his body, forcing his head back into Joshua's lap, the tendons in his neck cording beneath the skin as he fought against the way his body was betraying him. "Not ... again ..."  
  
"Shhh," Max said, brushing sweat soaked strands of hair off his forehead with her fingers, trying to calm him. "It's just another seizure," she said, deliberately keeping her voice level, calm for his sake. "You'll be fine as soon as we get some more tryptophan into you. Bet you skipped a dose or two, didn't you?"  
  
Max then looked up at Mole. "Tell Dr. Makari what's happening then go down to the infirmary and get me a bottle of tryptophan. Also, go to the cafeteria and get a carton of milk. Meet me in our quarters." She turned to Joshua who, without being asked, scooped Alec up in his arms.  
  
"He'll be all right," she said to the others surrounding them. But her voice was trembling as she looked at their worried faces. They all liked Alec, respected him, trusted him. After all, he was basically their leader. Seeing him like this was scaring them as well. "He'll be all right," she repeated even more firmly. Then she followed Joshua.  
  


*****  


A seizure again. Alec had recognized the aura, the feeling that suddenly everything around him was unreal, the slight buzzing in the ears, the flickering vision before he'd found himself helpless and twitching on the ground. He hadn't had those sensations since a couple of months ago in Seattle. He'd hoped maybe they'd gone away for good this time. Hoped ...  
  
It felt good to be lying in the bed he shared with Max every night -- safe, warm, protected. She was sitting beside him, her hand resting on his brow, stroking his hair, a small smile on her face that did nothing to dispel the worry in her beautiful brown eyes.  
  
But his muscles were still trembling, cramping with pain, and he found each breath required effort to take. The tremors weren't abating, and Alec knew all too well that his condition was going to get nothing but worse, that this was just the beginning of the cycle.  
  
Mole knocked on the door and came in with a bottle of tryptophan and a carton of milk. Max held his head up while he messily swallowed a handful of the pills, barely able to get them down between spasms. Talking was an effort. Really all he wanted to do was close his eyes and let the world go away. But he knew that would scare Max, if he let himself pass out. So, he tried to stay alert, awake, fighting off the darkness for as long as he could. Besides, Alec told himself. _If I go to sleep now I might never wake up.  
  
_Mac curled up beside him on the bed, her warmth assuaging some of the chills brought on by the epileptic attack. "It's just a petite mal seizure," she reassured him ... reassured herself. "You're going to be okay. I've had this happen a bunch of times, so have you."  
  
Alec nodded. Then ... "Damn!" He bit the inside of his lip this time. She wrapped her arms around him trying to cushion the pain for him.  
  
"Hold on," she whispered in his ear. "Hold on. The pills should work within twenty minutes. Just don't ... don't throw up or anything."  
  
Alec hadn't thought about that until she mentioned it, but he did feel kind of sick on his stomach. He swallowed hard, tasting blood in his mouth. Then he closed his eyes as another wave of Manticore hell overtook him.  
  


*****  


"The pills should have worked by now," Max said worriedly to Joshua as they stood just outside the bedroom door. She glanced at a clock on the wall of their quarters. "It's been over an hour and he's getting worse instead of better." A muffled whimper of pain from Alec signaled the onslaught of yet another spasm. The electrical storm in his brain was increasing in intensity with each seizure round, as if his system was winding itself up, a summer rain gradually growing into a hurricane.  
  
Kids back at Manticore had died from this, their minor tremors increasing in frequency and intensity until they'd turned into grand mal seizures. And then they'd lain there on the floor, twitching grotesquely, their eyes rolled back in their heads, their tongues bitten bloody, choking to death on their own fluids, suffocating because they couldn't breathe, until finally they'd gone rigid one last time before relaxing into a stillness that would last forever.  
  
Alec wasn't there yet, but his body was growing weary, his great strength gradually being depleted. He still responded when she called his name, still squeezed her hand as she held it, but his breathing was erratic, his pulse moreso.  
  
He wouldn't last the night.  
  
Dr. Makari had taken his pulse, checked his blood pressure, then shaken his head. "It's too bad you X5's were designed to resist phenobarbitol," he said. A shot would bring a human out of this, but I'd have to give him such a high dose to overcome his natural immunity to the drug it would kill him before it helped. And I don't have any Rohypnol." He looked Max straight in the eye. "I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do. Alec's either going to get through this by himself, or he's not."   
  
"He needs to go to the hospital," Joshua said.  
  
"I know," Max agreed with a mean look at their pessimistic doctor. "But we can't take him into Wellington. White's got his claws in all the officials over there, keeping an eye on the island. He'd be reported in a minute, then they'd come and kill him."  
  
"Can't anyone help him?" Joshua asked, his gruff voice filled with sadness. "We can't just let him--"  
  
"He's _not_ going to die," Max said fiercely, choking back tears. "He _can't_ die."  
  
"Max! Help me!" The sound of Alec's strangled cry was heart wrenching, and she was at his side in an instant.  
  
This time the onslaught of the seizure was more devastating than before, his back arching on the bed until she literally heard his vertebrae crack. Grabbing a wet washcloth from the nightstand she forced the material between Alec's teeth so he wouldn't break them or bite his tongue. His torture seemed to go on forever as she held his trembling, sweating body in her arms. And this time, when the cruel spasm finally passed, his consciousness went with it.  
  
There was no one other than Dr. Makari to help him on the island. And the doctor had already given up. No one to even call for help, no one to come except--  
  
She grabbed Alec's jacket off of the chair where she'd thrown it after tugging it off of him before tucking him into the bed. His satellite communications phone, as always, was in the inner pocket. Flipping through the stored numbers she came to the one she wanted. She couldn't help smiling when she saw he had it tagged "Devil." But then that's who he was -- to both of them -- even now.  
  
Pressing the button, she waited for the ring, and was actually a little bit surprised when the man himself answered.  
  
"It's Max," she said. "Don't talk. Don't ask questions. Just listen. Alec's in trouble. Your gift from Manticore that won't stop giving is about to kill him. He's caught in a seizure spiral and tryptophan isn't working. Unless you want another X5's life on your hands you need to get here right away with something that can help him, maybe some of that Rohypnol."  
  
She listened a moment.  
  
"All right," she said. "My people will let you through. Oh, and Lydecker. Hurry." 

To be continued ...

_Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site. _

Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note 


	13. The Devil You Know

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: No 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 13  
The Devil You Know**

Max watched as Donald Lydecker took out a zippered leather case and filled a syringe with clear liquid.  
  
"What's that?" she asked, her voice emotionless, exhausted. She was holding Alec's momentarily limp, sweat soaked hand in hers, counting down the seconds until another bout in hell began. He'd just come out of a seizure, and was due for another any moment.  
  
In fact, when Joshua had let Lydecker into the barracks she'd been lying on top of Alec, trying to hold him down with the weight of her own body, her hands tangled in his hair and her face pressed against his, pleading softly for him to hold on just a little longer -- to fight this bitch that was stealing him away from her.  
  
"Max," Lydecker had said, touching her on the shoulder. She'd turned around, somehow surprised that he'd really shown up so quickly. "Get up. I need to examine him."  
  
She'd complied, and now sat anxiously in a chair by the bed, keeping a firm grip on Alec's fingers.  
  
"A sedative designed especially for your kind," Lydecker answered her question. "Enough to put a big jungle cat, or in this case an X5 male, down."  
  
"What do you mean 'put down?'" Max questioned sharply, not liking his choice of words.  
  
Lydecker smiled grimly. "Don't worry. You were right when you assumed I didn't want anymore X5 blood on my hands." He looked up at her, blue eyes crinkling, and added more gently, "And you ought to know by now I don't want to hurt your _smart_ Alec."  
  
"Because he's been so useful to you?" Max said sarcastically.  
  
Lydecker pulled back the sleeve of Alec's black t-shirt, swabbed alcohol on his well muscled biceps, and expertly slipped the needle into his skin. "This should break the seizure cycle," he said. "All we can do now is wait."  
  
Max couldn't take her eyes off of Alec's face, unable to trust that Lydecker hadn't just injected something lethal into the man she loved. She glanced at the clock, something she'd done a hundred times in the past few hours, counting down the seconds.  
  


*****  


  
"Tell me what you know about Rachel and the Berrisford assignment," Max said quietly, taking the opportunity while they sat there waiting to ask Lydecker something she'd always wondered about -- anything to break the deathly silence between them.  
  
"You know about that?"  
  
"As much as Alec would tell me, yes. But I'm sure there's more."  
  
"That assignment going sideways set his career back badly."  
  
"I bet it did," Max said, her voice sarcastic again. She looked down at Alec, then up at the clock. Five minutes had passed. Five minutes without another seizure.  
  
"Did he tell you what happened ... afterwards?"  
  
"No," Max said levelly, her eyes still on Alec and the soft rise and fall of his chest. She glanced up. "But I can guess."  
  
"He was tortured because he found out there was a whole life on the outside that he wasn't supposed to have," the older man said, his voice actually tinged with sadness. "He was tortured because he fell in love and tried to keep Manticore from killing her." He looked away, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. His voice dropped to a husky whisper. "Then we tried to make him forget her, or at least not care."  
  
Max smiled weakly. "Re-indoctrination. It didn't work."  
  
"I know. At least not in the long run, and he was never trusted with another mission after that, solo or otherwise. We kept him confined to the base. Actually, for a short time 494 was content again at Manticore, training the younger ones ... probably would have been for awhile longer if you hadn't put him back on the outside. But sooner or later he'd have begun wanting more than he would have ever been allowed to have. Problem soldiers like Alec ... and you ... are the real reason I think the Committee abandoned us and gave Renfro free reign to terminate the program."  
  
"What about the younger ones?" Max asked. "The X6's and X7's?"  
  
"They were never going to be as good as my X5's," Lydecker said, more than a touch of pride in his voice. "My kids were the best. Afterwards ... the scientists began diluting the emotions, trying to breed out what they saw as flaws ... too much independence ... too much free thinking ..."  
  
Alec mumbled something and Max was instantly at his side, her hand touching his face. "Alec," she said softly. "Come on, baby. Open your eyes."  
  
Lydecker was putting away the syringe. "There was a fifty-fifty chance he'd never wake up," he said.  
  
Max turned on him sharply. "You never told me that."  
  
"What good would it have been for you to know? I had to give him a pretty massive dose. He would have died for certain if I hadn't."  
  
"What now?" Max asked, relieved to see Alec turning his head from side to side as he tried to open his eyes.  
  
"Go to Sandeman," he said with a shrug. "He's your only hope. Make him realize that if he can't fix this problem then all he's going to have to fight in his Apocalypse is an army of the dead."  
  


*****  


"So," Alec said, looking up into Max's eyes as she cradled his head in her lap, "our days really are numbered."  
  
She shifted her weight slightly, finding a more comfortable position in the bed. Then her fingers went back to stroking his hair. The seizures seemed to be gone -- for now, but he was as weak as he'd ever been in his life -- totally vulnerable, and still very afraid.  
  
"Even Lydecker can't help us," she said, "which just leaves Sandeman." She got a funny look in her eyes. "You know, in his own way, 'Deck really does care. He came right away to help you when I called. He didn't want you to die."  
  
"That was smart I guess," Alec said, yawning and snuggling deeper in the warm blankets Max had tucked in around him. "Calling 'Deck. Even though it was kind of takin' a chance. He might have just come in here and shot me in the head to put me outta my misery."  
  
She looked at him quickly.  
  
He shrugged. "It's what they did to a lot of the kids who got the shakes back at Manticore -- killed them."  
  
"I know," Max said. "But I wouldn't have let him do that to you." She thought a moment. "Still, I really didn't know what he was injecting into you. For all I knew it could have been poison."  
  
"You had no choice, Max," Alec said, forgiving her even though there was nothing to forgive. "It was either Lydecker, or a hospital and White."  
  
She ran her fingers over his bare forearm, lightly stroking his skin. He saw her swallow hard and knew what she was thinking. "Sandeman will help us," he said firmly. "He owes us. Besides, we're his army."  
  


To be continued ...  


_Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site. _

Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note 


	14. The Truth Revealed

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: No 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 14  
The Truth Revealed**

The seizures tended to run in cycles. Once he'd gone two days without suffering one, Alec relaxed a little bit. His genetically enhanced body had quickly returned to normal, his strength almost back where it should be, the headaches fading. But he knew there would be a next time, and a next time, and a next time until finally, in spite of the drugs, the day would come when his brain would overload, he'd fall into a coma, and he'd die. All that would be left of X5-494 would be a carcass lying in the ground out in the cemetery, the only reminder of his existence one of those granite tombstones Luke was so good at carving.  
  
However, as frightened as he was, Alec still felt guilty. At least he was alive ... breathing ... A teenager had died yesterday, an X6. Even Lydecker's strong sedative and Dr. Makari's administrations hadn't been enough to save the kid. A fresh grave ... more work for Luke ... more grief for Max.  
  
Somewhere McKinley and his people were probably laughing.  
  
There was a pall over Chimera now. Even the mutants ... the freaks ..., immune to the seizures and once so eager to build their new home, now felt as if the Sword of Damocles was hanging over their heads. One-by-one the X series ... the leaders ... were dying. Someday not too far in the future the transhumans would be the only Manticore alumni left alive. Without their more human appearing brethren, what chance would they have for survival in a world that could never accept them?  
  
"Father will help us," Joshua said, coming up behind Alec where he stood looking out over the graveyard.  
  
"I'm not so sure about that," Alec said quietly. He turned around to look at his big friend. "I mean, if he could stop the seizures, why hasn't he done it by now? He knows what's going on. He just keeps sayin' he's too busy fightin' the plague, that he doesn't have time for the kind of research it would take to help us."  
  
Joshua was shaking his shaggy head. "I don't understand," he said. "Why would Father go to all the trouble to make us, to save us from White, to help us come here, only to abandon us now?"  
  
Alec had been wondering the same thing, and unfortunately, he thought he might have the answer. "Because he's found another army," he said grimly. "Sandeman doesn't need us any more. He's even pretty much finished with his Special One ... with Max."  
  
"What other army?"  
  
Alec shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe he's breeding his own batch of X5's out on Calvi, the new and improved version." The second the words came out of his mouth Alec felt the truth in them. He'd really only been talking for Joshua's sake, but suddenly a lot of things began to make sense. Blinking, he looked up at the dogman.  
  
"What is it, Alec?" Joshua asked, sensing the transgenic's change in mood.  
  
"Oh, my God," Alec whispered, his mind racing. "Everything fits. Sandeman hasn't been helping us because he's directing all of his resources not just into treating the plague, but into a new batch of ... us."  
  


*****  


  
"You're crazy," Max said bluntly. "You've got no proof at all that Sandeman's mixing up a new generation of transgenics."  
  
"Why the hell not?" Alec lashed back. "He's got all the data. Lydecker gave it to him. Remember the case he swiped from White, the one Renfro had? Not only was your DNA info in there, but there were discs with all of our records." Agitated, Alec was pacing around the barracks they used for their personal quarters.  
  
"But he'd need more than just raw data," Max said. "He'd need embryos and surrogates. Where would he get the biological material ..." Her voice trailed off as Alec just stared at her. "Oh my God," Max said, echoing Alec's earlier exclamation as she suddenly realized what he was saying. "Sandeman took all kinds of samples from my body ..." Her eyes went to Alec, a look of horror in their brown depths. "Did he ever ... Alec, did he ever ask you to ..."  
  
"Make a donation?" Alec finished for her. "No. But your eggs might be enough. He could fertilize them with genetic material from any X5 male. Wouldn't have to be me. Then he could make the corrections to the DNA, eliminate the serotonin deficiency, before implanting the embryo in the surrogate."  
  
"There aren't many X5 males left in the world," Max pointed out. "He'd have to have a source. Who's missing from the island?"  
  
Alec shrugged. "Wouldn't necessarily be someone from here. There were some X5's on missions when Manticore went up in smoke who never reported back ... some in Canada like your brother Krit. We've never tracked him down. Then there was Zack, although I'm not sure if he'd be a suitable donor anymore what with how he was cut into pieces and stitched back together."  
  
"And Riley," Max said. "Riley's with Sandeman right now. You wouldn't let Logan bring him to the island, remember?"  
  
Alec stopped by the window and dropped his face into his hands. Of course. Riley. Already a blood donor for Logan Cale, the next logical step would be for him to be a donor of another kind. Which lead to another very obvious conclusion. Alec raised his head, the look in his eyes deadly. "Where's Logan?" he asked softly.  
  


*****  


  
Alec very badly wanted to wipe that smug smile off of Logan Cale's face with his fist, but Max had decided to take the more roundabout emotional route.  
  
"You knew all along and didn't tell us?" Max said, her eyes brimming with tears. "Logan, how could you keep this a secret? You know how sick a lot of my people are."  
  
"And Sandeman can't help _your_ people, Max. So what would be the point?" Logan replied easily. His eyes pinned Alec. "Sandeman told me months ago there was no real hope for the X series on the island. He didn't tell you because he didn't want you to get all depressed and worried, not to mention homicidal."  
  
"You mean there's no way to really fix the serotonin problem in our brains," Alec clarified.  
  
"No," Logan said bluntly.  
  
"And so he's gone to Plan B. Breedin' a new generation of transgenics without the problem."  
  
"The serotonin deficiency was a trait ordered by the U.S. government," Logan said, restating what they already knew. "They wanted a fail safe in case their super soldiers got too independent, a 'kill switch' so to speak. They forced Sandeman to insert the faulty gene into your DNA strands. It's actually ridiculously easy for him to now create a clean batch of X5's without the defect."  
  
"But why all the talk about us breeding and creating his army?" Max implored. "Why did he get our hopes up?"  
  
Now it was Logan's turn to shrug. "Because Sandeman thought he'd give it a shot. At first he believed you guys could reproduce and not pass on the defect, but Gem's little girl still has it, and so does Brac. Sandeman saw right away that the X5's here couldn't give him what he wanted, so he turned to other means." Logan flashed her a big sarcastic smile. "Can't really blame the guy, can you? I mean, it's only the fate of the world at stake."  
  
"Our so-called defect was cured for more than ten years," Alec argued. "It can't be that hard to fix again. Even if we can't give him his army, Sandeman owes us that much ... owes us our lives."  
  
"Don't know anything about that," Logan said easily, standing from where he'd been sitting on the edge of their bed and walking to the door with only a slight limp. "You'll have to talk to Sandeman ... try to convince the old guy that he should stop saving the world long enough to waste time, energy, and resources on you guys ... a handful of X series rejects ... failures." His blue eyes glittered behind his glasses. "You do the math, Alec. But I don't think you're going to like how things add up." He glanced over at Max. "She's got a few years, you know, before her genetic 'fix' goes bad. But don't worry. After you're gone ... which won't be long now I'm guessing ... I'll take good care of her and your son."  
  
"Alec!" Max said sharply.  
  
Alec forced the balled fists in his jacket pockets to relax. Beating on Logan now wouldn't do anything but upset Max. Besides, Cale wasn't the problem. Sandeman was. Somehow they had to convince "Father" that his first born children were worth saving. 

To be continued ...  


_Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site. _

Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note 


	15. Plan B

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: No 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 15  
Plan B**

Herman Sandeman, his hand resting on his cane and his wizened, elfin face crinkled with concern, listened to Max, nodding gravely.  
  
"I've done my part," Max said, keeping her voice steady, strong. "Your Special One has fulfilled her duty to mankind, and believe me it wasn't exactly easy. You know the pain I've gone through, the mental and physical torment. I figure now -- you owe me. And I'm here to collect my payment."  
  
"And that payment would be my child--?"  
  
Max turned around and looked at Alec who was standing slightly behind her, as always guarding her back. "His life," she said bluntly. "And also the lives of our child and the rest of our people. We've served you well, and you said we'd be safe. Now, it's time to make good on that promise."  
  
Sandeman sighed, a light sound like a breeze fluttering through the leaves of a tree. Then he tapped his cane on the floor three times, as if punctuating his thought process. But finally, in a move that chilled Max to the bone, he looked away.  
  
_He can't meet my eyes. He can't keep his promise. Alec and Brac are going to die._  
  
"You promised!" Max said loudly, her voice tinged with desperation. Then, more softly, a half sob, "you promised."  
  
"How frequent are the seizures?" Sandeman said, the question directed at Alec.  
  
Alec shrugged, but before he could open his mouth Max spoke for him, knowing her mate would downplay his malady. "Several times a week," she said. "Sometimes they last for a couple of days, then he'll have a spell, like now, when he's free of them."  
  
"And he's taking the tryptophan?"  
  
"Of course," Alec replied quietly. "Have been for a couple of years." He glanced at Max. "More now than before though, and it doesn't work as well."  
  
"He's building a tolerance," Sandeman said, more to himself than to them.  
  
"Dr. Makari was experimenting with a drug that was supposed to enhance the uptake," Max said. "But he says he can't make it work."  
  
"I know the compound," Sandeman replied. "It should work ... in fact it does in true humans. But for some reason it fails in transgenics. I haven't been able to decipher why."  
  
"Well decipher it!" Max cried out. "Or whip up some other magic brew in your lab -- anything to help them!" She gestured to Alec, but meant her entire race of people.  
  
"I'm sorry," Sandeman whispered, his voice tinged with true sorrow. "I truly thought my original children would be my army. But that can't happen now. There's nothing that can help you, no way to stop the breakdown in brain chemistry, not in the long run."  
  
"So what about your so-called _army_ then?" Alec asked. "What are you gonna do if you lose us?"  
  
"That's already been taken care of," Sandeman said gently.  
  
And Max knew right then and there that the last nail had just been hammered into Alec's coffin.  
  


*****  


  
"Plan B was a doozy," Alec commented mildly, doing an admirable job of keeping his awe, not to mention his fear, in check.  
  
"Sure was," Max said, taking a deep calming breath. "I can't believe he did all of this ..." she gestured at the contents of the cavern spread out before them, "in just a year's time."  
  
"We always knew there was a chance our experiment with your people would fail," Sandeman said, a proud smile on his wizened face. "This contingency plan was in place almost from the beginning."  
  
They were standing on a catwalk looking down into a large cave located beneath Sandeman's Calvi castle. Filling the space were several dozen plexiglass vats, each containing a naked human form connected by tubes and wires to a central station and computer located in the center of the complex.  
  
"You're growing soldiers," Max said. "Transgenic soldiers just like Alec and me. X5's."  
  
Sandeman nodded. "Your ova provided the basic genetic material." He gestured at the vats. "All of these are your children, my child. As much so as your natural born son."  
  
Max felt slightly ill at the thought. "Who's the father?" she had to ask with a quick glance at Alec who in turn shook his head adamantly no, re-enforcing his earlier assertion he and his sperm had nothing to do with this project.  
  
"494 would have been the ideal choice," Sandeman said. He turned to Alec. "But I knew you'd never agree, and we'd already taken her eggs. I couldn't bring myself to steal more from the two of you."  
  
"How thoughtful," Alec said, not even trying to conceal his sarcasm.  
  
"Therefore, we made do with what we had."  
  
"Riley." Max supplied the name.  
  
"Correct," Sandeman affirmed. "We used advanced cloning techniques to turn a dozen embryos into nearly a hundred."  
  
"But those are adults," Alec said, nodding at the tanks. "You said you only started a year ago."  
  
"Forced growth," Sandeman said. "Special hormones were infused into the fetuses. They matured within the womb in only three months time, and have grown exponentially ever since. A few have even graduated from the tanks to begin training." He was looking sad again. "Of course they will have abysmally short lifespans, a few years of existence at most, not to mention abbreviated mental capacity. But in that time they will serve their purpose and we'll be constantly cloning more to replace the ones that die of old age."  
  
Alec shuddered. "What about us?" he had to ask. "Were we given any of those growth stimulants when we were children? Are our life spans shortened, by more than the seizures I mean?"  
  
"A little, maybe," Sandeman admitted. "There were certain hormones administered during your years at Manticore, but nothing as radical as this project. Your growth patterns were relatively normal, all things considered."  
  
"All things considered," Max echoed the statement, wondering again about Brac's future what with the odd medical history of his parents. "So," she said. "This is your new army -- our replacements. This is why you don't need us anymore."  
  
"Your sacrifices and contributions will always be remembered," Sandeman offered. "You won't be forgotten, Max. In the annals of human history your name will be written alongside the saints--"  
  
"Oh, cut the crap!" Alec cried out. "We don't wanna be in the annals of anything! We wanna be alive!"  
  
"I'm sorry," Sandeman said. "That's not going to happen. I can't help you. No one can."  
  
Which is when Alec looked over at the main entrance to the cavern and saw four newly cloned X5 soldiers waiting to escort them out.  
  


*****  


  
"We're gonna blow it up, aren't we," Alec said. It wasn't a question.  
  
"Of course," Max replied easily. "What Sandeman's created in there is an abomination."  
  
He moved in front of her as she headed at a brisk pace down the hallway of the castle, walking backwards so he could face her. "A lot of people think we're abominations, too, Max."  
  
She clenched her jaw. "I know. But it's still not the same. We were children. We grew up. We're--"  
  
"Human?" Alec said. "Not quite. Or rather 'more than'."  
  
"I was going to say we're relatively normal." She was still walking, fast, and Alec had to move his booted feet quickly to keep up. "He's using part of me, Alec. He stole my eggs ... my future children ... and used them to create those ... things."  
  
Alec swallowed hard. "I've gotta admit, the thought of Riley bein' the father of your babies bothers the hell outta me."  
  
"It's not Riley's fault."  
  
"No, that credit goes to Logan ... and Lydecker. They're the ones who lobotomized the poor guy."  
  
"Where those soldiers came from don't really matter anyway," Max said quietly.  
  
"It doesn't? Max, you just pointed out that they're really your children. We blow that cave, we're gonna kill 'em all. Can you live with that?"  
  
"Yes," she said adamantly.  
  
"How? How can you live with something like that?"  
  
"Because if we destroy Sandeman's new army it means he'll have to make due with the old one ... with us. It means he'll have to help us if he wants to defeat the Familiars. It takes away all his other options."  
  
"It won't be easy," Alec said. "We're gonna hafta fight some X5's ... your kids so to speak."  
  
"It's never easy," Max replied coldly. "And as for those imitation X5's, I say bring 'em on. Mama's waiting." 

To be continued ...  


_Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site. _

Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note 


	16. Betrayal

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: No 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 16  
Betrayal**

They were being followed. Alec could sense two ... maybe three behind them as they walked through the streets of Calvi toward the harbor where they could catch a boat back to the mainland.  
  
"Max ... honey," he said lightly. "Do you remember how fond old Sandeman is of his electronic surveillance devices?"  
  
"What about it?" Max said, her voice rough with exhaustion. She looked terrible, her hair unkempt, dark circles beneath her eyes, her shoulders slumped in a very un-Max-like way.  
  
Alec glanced behind them and with his cat eyes spotted a fleeting shadow disappear into a doorway in the half dusk of encroaching evening. Licking dry lips, he took hold of Max's upper arm, pulling her closer, and lowered his voice. "I think Herman's on to the fact we're not gonna just sit back and quietly enter his 'annals of history.'"  
  
"What do you mean?" Max asked, looking up at him sharply.  
  
Alec jerked his head backwards, indicating their followers. "We've picked up a tail ... or three. I'm guessing Sandeman eavesdropped on what we were sayin' in the hallway back at his castle. And now he can't let us leave the island 'cause he knows how dangerous we are."  
  
"Sandeman would never hurt us," Max said, whispering so harshly she might as well have been shouting. She pulled her arm away. "You're imagining things."  
  
"No, unfortunately I'm not," Alec said with a heavy sigh as a large (larger than him at least) male dressed in military fatigues stepped into the cobbled street in front of them, blocking their way.  
  
"Halt," the man said, his hand on his sidearm.  
  
"Daddy Riley's a combat model, isn't he?" Alec said casually, at the same time sizing up his opponent.  
  
"I think so," Max replied. "There are three behind us?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Four to two. Not bad odds."  
  
"Your leg gonna hold up?"  
  
"My leg's fine."  
  
"I told you to join me and the kids during our training sessions, but no, you didn't have time to exercise."  
  
"I said it's fine, Alec," Max snapped, her voice an extension of her temper.  
  
"They've got guns."  
  
"I know," she said in a low voice. Then to the soldier. "What do you want?"  
  
"You're to return to the castle. Sandeman's orders."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"You're to return to the castle. Sandeman's orders," the automoton repeated.  
  
"Yep," Alec said. "He heard us talkin' about blowin' the place up. No doubt about it. We're fucked."  
  
"What are we going to do?" Max asked nervously, her eyes on the gun that was now in the soldier's hand.  
  
Alec shrugged. "What we always do, Maxie. Fight."  
  
Max nodded, her brown eyes grim. "Guess we need to show 'Father' just how good his first born really are."  
  


*****  


  
Alec blurred at the same time the soldier fired. The bullet missed him, but not by much, and then he was on top of the cloned X5, his hands gripping the uniform collar, using his momentum to flip over the soldier's head. Landing gracefully behind his opponent, he planted his feet and heaved, pulling the man into a spin and smashing him into the brick wall of the "Olive Tree Tavern." A glance over his shoulder told him Max was in trouble -- the other three had her surrounded and were closing in with sidearms drawn, the only reason they hadn't gunned her down already the fact she was moving too fast -- whirling and kicking -- for a clean shot.  
  
Heart pounding with both exhileration and fear, Alec leaped like the cat he partially was into the middle of the fray, fingers of steel taking hold of a dark haired head and twisting viciously. It had been a long time since he'd heard that sound, felt that sensation -- vertebrae breaking -- a technique he'd been taught as a very young child. The fact he gleaned such satisfaction from the deed horrified him, but also reaffirmed what he sometimes forgot -- that he'd been bred, born, and raised to be an assassin. Killing came far easier to him than it did to Max.  
  
And that was truly the only thing that was going to save their lives now.  
  
Max was still dancing around, landing a kick or punch now and then, but for the most part just feigning, trying to keep from being a target for their bullets. She might swear her leg was healed, but Alec could tell she was favoring her left side, putting most of her weight on the right -- a handicap that was going to get her killed.  
  
Dropping to the ground, Alec's leg swept out, knocking one soldier off his feet. The follow through was easy -- a karate chop to the throat. Three down, one to go. Sandeman's boys might look impressive, but they really weren't very well trained.  
  
The sound of the gunshot was unusually loud in the close Calvi street, the retort echoing off the cobblestones and brick walls.  
  
"Max!" Alec screamed.  
  
Her arm was bleeding, but she was still standing, still fighting. Sensing the attack from behind, the soldier who'd just shot Max whirled and pointed his gun at Alec, aiming dead center at his chest as the transgenic charged to protect his mate.  
  
But turning his back on the enraged and wounded female ... on Max ... was a big mistake. There was a rusty iron post lying on the ground near the curb. Max scooped it up, swung hard, and buried its barbed tip in the clone's brain, driving it home with strength fueled by desperation. However, to their amazement, the soldier didn't fall, instead swinging his fist and landing a cuffing blow to the side of Alec's head.  
  
Momentarily stunned, Alec staggered back, breathing heavily, looking straight down the barrel of the gun that was about to end his life. But even as he braced himself for the impact of a bullet, the cloned X5's blue eyes glazed over and, with brain matter and blood dripping from his ears, Max's ill conceived offspring collapsed into a twitching heap of flesh and bone on the ground.  
  


*****  


  
"Get us outta here!" Alec shouted to Zeb as he and Max ran up the boarding ramp into the plane.  
  
"Our take-off time isn't for another hour," Zeb said mildly. "Filed the flight plan last night."  
  
"Take off! Now!" Max ordered, holding her bleeding arm.  
  
"Why?" their pilot implored. "I could lose my license for violating international regulations."  
  
"It's not as if we haven't violated them before," Alec said easily as he slid into the co-pilot's seat. He looked sharply at the older black man. "You flyin' or am I?"  
  
"I gather you two have someone lookin' to kill ya again?" Mole said, talking around his cigar stub as he leaned with folded arms on the back of Alec's seat.  
  
"So?" Max shot at him. "What else is new?"  
  
Joshua had come forward from the cargo area. "Is Father in danger, too?" he asked.  
  
Alec looked at Max, his eyes warning.  
  
"No, Big Fella," Max said, her voice dropping to a more soothing decibel. "Father's fine. But there are some ... men chasing us."  
  
The DC9's engines sprang to life. Alec, however, was only half watching the control panel, his hearing and attention tuned to what Max and Joshua were saying.  
  
"Why?" the dogman asked innocently. "More of White's people?"  
  
"Yeah," Alec said quickly, before Max could hesitate. "But don't worry about Sandeman. He's well guarded in his castle. We just got jumped in the street, barely made it out."  
  
"How many did ya kill?" Mole asked, a toothy grin splitting his scaley face.  
  
Alec held up three fingers, pointed to Max and held up one.  
  
"Four total?" the lizard man said. "Impressive. But then that's what we were designed for ain't it? Killin'?"  
  
With a twinge of conscience, Alec remembered the exhileration he'd felt after breaking the cloned X5's neck. Manticore had done that to him, bred instincts into his mind and body that he couldn't deny. In reality, that was why the rest of the human race so feared his kind -- genetically enhanced killing machines. He was ashamed of that in a way, but also oddly proud. Afterall, what else could he be?  
  
"Alec!" Max said loudly. She snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Are we taking off or not?"  
  
Alec looked over at Zeb who gave him a shrug followed by a high sign.  
  
"Tell the tower it was a mix-up," Alec said. "Tell 'em we thought our flight time was three and not four when they start screamin'. We'll hafta pay a fine next time we land, but I have a really bad feeling about stayin' on the ground." He looked out over the tarmac, half expecting to see an army of X5 clones advancing.  
  
"He doesn't have that many yet," Max said low so only he could hear. But she forgot that Joshua also had keen ears.  
  
"Many what?" their friend asked innnocently.  
  
"Many soldiers in his army," Alec said truthfully.  
  
Joshua grinned. "Which is what you and Max and the others are for. You're Father's army, and there will be more soon."  
  
"Or less," Alec said softly, clenching his hand into a fist to stop the sudden uncontrolled trembling.  
  
The plane was taxiing down the runway now, and a moment later, in spite of threats and curses from the air traffic control tower, they were in the air, headed out on the long flight to Wellington. When he spotted the island of Calvi below as they banked into the setting sun, Alec's keen vision focused on Sandeman's castle. "You should have your seatbelt on," he said to Joshua as his friend's hand came down on his shoulder.  
  
But Joshua was looking out the window too, following Alec's gaze. "Father will help you, Alec. I know he won't let you die."  
  
"Right" was all Alec could say, wondering just how he was going to break the bad news to his best friend that their so-called father had abandoned them -- worse, had tried to kill them.  
  
Joshua's big hand ruffled his hair affectionately. "Have faith, Alec," he said softly. "Just have faith in Father."  
  
Alec closed his eyes, blocking out the view of the castle below. 

To be continued ...  


_Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site. _

Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note 


	17. A Friend in Need

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: No 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 17  
A Friend in Need**

"Don't tell Max," Alec begged.  
  
"But ... but you need help," Joshua implored, moving to Alec's side, reaching out although hesitating to actually touch him, probably for fear of making things worse.  
  
"Shit," Alec cursed through clenched teeth as the seizure grabbed a bigger piece of his nervous system. Damn it, he'd come down here to talk to Joshua, not keel over in front of him. Clutching at the wooden table in Joshua's quarters as his knees gave way, he pulled a plate and cup with him to the floor, the sound of breaking glass making his friend cringe. "Sorry about the dishes," Alec managed as he tried to climb back to his feet. "I just need to--" And then he lost it, his head snapping back, his eyes rolling in his head, and the world simply going away.  
  


*****  


  
As he gradually regained consciousness Alec realized he felt wonderful, so warm and safe and loved. Snuggling down into the softness surrounding him, he murmured her name. _Max._  
  
"I didn't tell her," a voice said low in his ear. "You said not to tell her so I didn't."  
  
Alec's eyes snapped open. The dogboy face inches from his own was creased with worry, the blue eyes fearful, and that breath ... His stomach lurched.  
  
"Alec?" Joshua said. "Are you okay now?"  
  
"Josh?" And then Alec realized his big friend was down on the floor with him, holding him, keeping him warm and still -- keeping him safe. "How long?" he rasped. "How long did I--"  
  
"Half an hour," Joshua said. "I held you so you wouldn't get hurt. I didn't know what else to do. You said not to call Max."  
  
"Half an hour," Alec repeated. "I've been worse." He looked up into Joshua's eyes. "You did good, Big Fella. I owe you for not callin' Max. But now I better--" Alec started to get up and immediately felt the trembling begin all over again.  
  
"Crap," he said, his eyes filling with tears.  
  
Joshua's arms tightened around him. "Don't try to move, Alec," he warned. "You need to rest, give the bitch seizure time to go away."  
  
"But--"  
  
"Don't worry," Joshua said firmly. "I've got you. You're safe. You'll be fine."  
  
"Nice pep talk, Big Fella," Alec said weakly. He bit down on his lip, hard, fighting another spasm. "But I'm in trouble here."  
  
"Alec," Joshua repeated firmly. "You'll be all right. You have to be."  
  
"Tell that to the assholes who made me," Alec got out just as the seizure really took hold and robbed him of his consciousness again.  
  


*****  


  
When he opened his eyes for the second time Alec knew that this could be it -- that he might be dying. He felt so weak he found himself not truly caring, almost wishing he could just close his eyes once more and have it all be over -- no more worries, no more fear, most of all no more seizures. Yeah, a coma followed by the peaceful blackness of death didn't sound so bad right now.  
  
"Get Max," he whispered to Joshua. "Get her now."  
  
Joshua was still holding him in his arms, only they were on a bed now. His friend was shaking his shaggy head sadly. "Max isn't here," he said. "Max went with Logan to Wellington in a boat. I saw them leave. You said not to tell her so I didn't. I'm sorry, Alec."  
  
_Max is with Logan. How poetic. I'm dying and she's with Logan._  
  
"I wanna see her one more time."  
  
"I'm getting the doctor," Joshua declared, easing Alec's head onto a pillow and standing up.  
  
Alec immediately missed the warmth of his big friend. "Don't go," he said, holding out a hand, all semblance of bravery in the face of death, all false bravado, vanishing. "Don't leave me alone, Josh."  
  
"I'll be quick," Joshua promised as he backed away. "Just ... hold on, Alec. Just still be here when I get back."  
  
The click of the barracks door closing was an oddly frightening, final sound. Alec knew he was truly alone now ... and truly dying.  
  


*****  


  
He stirred when he felt the prick of a needle on the skin of his arm. It was difficult to focus his eyes, but he recognized Dr. Makari's face looming above him. The man's lips twitched in a small smile, then he turned around and said to someone behind him, "He's back. We've got him back."  
  
Alec wanted to ask what had happened, but he didn't have the strength to form words. Joshua dropped to his knees beside the bed and gently stroked sweaty strands of hair out of his eyes. "You're going to be all right now, Alec," he said firmly. He turned to Dr. Makari. "Isn't he?"  
  
"Why do my ribs hurt?" Alec got out, wondering why there was so much pain when he breathed.  
  
Joshua shot a look at the doctor who sighed. "When Joshua and I got here you were in a seizure loop. Nothing I gave you helped, not phenobarbitol, not even the powerful sedative Lydecker left with me." He glanced at the dogman again.  
  
"What is it, Doc?" Alec asked, wishing he didn't have to talk because it made his head hurt so bad he felt like he was going to puke.  
  
"Your heart stopped, son," Makari said gently.  
  
Alec had never really liked the doctor that Lydecker had found for them, but he'd gone along with Max's wishes knowing she was right they needed the guy. However, right now, for the first time, he allowed himself to really sense the man's emotions, and what he felt surprised him. Makari truly cared about him ... and it had nothing to do with X5-494 being a guinea pig or part of Manticore's great misguided science project.  
  
"Doctor used paddles," Joshua said, grinning. "Electricity."  
  
Now Alec understood why he felt like he'd been kicked by a mule. Makari had started his heart again with a defibrillator. "What did you just give me?" he asked.  
  
Makari looked away, and Alec's recently resuscitated heart turned over in his chest. "Doc?"  
  
"It's an experimental compound I came up with based on that formula I couldn't get to work," he said, his eyes guilty. "It really wasn't ready to test, but if you have another seizure ..." He didn't need to finish.  
  
"So?" Alec asked thickly. He sniffed and swallowed with difficulty."What's the catch?"  
  
"I don't know what it will do to you, son," the doctor said softly. He reached down into his bag and brought out a plastic bottle of pills. "I do need you to take some tryptophan. If the compound works the way I hope it will, your body will be able to metabolize the supplement and convert it into serotonin again the way it used to."  
  
"I thought you said that formula was a bust," Alec said as he dutifully accepted a glass of water from Joshua and swallowed a handful of the brown tablets.  
  
"It was," Makari said. "But then I had an idea. I'd been trying to make the formula work based on human anatomy and body chemistry. I assumed that since you, Max, and most of the other X series have only a small amount of feline DNA the human portion of your genetics would be dominant. However, I began to wonder about the cat in you, whether that might not be the real genome area to target. So, I began experimenting with the compound on house cats. I've got over a dozen down at the lab in the hospital right now, all in varying stages of receiving the treatment I just started on you."  
  
"Was it working?" Joshua asked, his blue eyes hopeful.  
  
Makari shook his head. "I lost three test subjects the first week. They died from brain hemorrhages. I adjusted the formula and haven't had any more fatalities. However, the blood work isn't complete. I don't really know if their serotonin levels are increasing."  
  
"Great," Alec said. "Just ... great."  
  
"Hey," Makari said. "It's been fifteen minutes and you're not dead, or seizing either."  
  
Joshua gave him a big hug, making Alec's ribs hurt all over again -- but he didn't complain. "You're gonna be fine, Medium Fella," he said. "Max will be back soon and you're gonna be fine. You have to be." 

To be continued ...  


_Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site. _

Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note 


	18. A Little Talk

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: No 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 18  
A Little Talk**

"Have you given any thought as to what you'll do after he dies?"  
  
Max stared out at the water, one hand steering the power boat, the other bracing herself against the seat, pretending she hadn't heard Logan's question.  
  
"Max?" Logan persisted, edging closer to her on the bench, raising his voice to be certain she'd hear him over the wind, waves, and the hum of the Sea Ray's motor. "I asked you what you're going to do after Alec dies."  
  
"He's not going to die," Max said simply. "He's going to be fine. We'll figure something out. We always do."  
  
"Max, Alec's dying. He might only have days left to live. You know how bad the seizures are getting, how often he's having them now. He can't even leave the island. It's just a good thing you brought me here when you did. At least you won't be alone."  
  
She looked at him then, and the brief flicker of gratitude in the depths of her liquid brown eyes told Logan Cale volumes. Max was tired of worrying, tired of being afraid, tired of not being able to count on Alec yet again.  
  
"He doesn't mean to let you down," Logan said gently. "Alec's always been unpredictable. It's just the way he was made, his nature. That's one reason you were so standoffish toward him for so long. You knew you couldn't trust him."  
  
"I can trust Alec!" Max said hotly. "He'd die for me ... for the cause!"  
  
"Die for you, yes," Logan admitted. "But in the end, how's that going to really help you? What he needs to do is live for you. And that's something he can't do. You need to make plans, Max. You need to protect yourself and your son from the grief he's going to cause you." He put an arm around her shoulders and was mildly surprised when she didn't shrug him off. "You need to find someone else to love," he whispered in her ear. "Because the one you love now is going to leave you, and then you'll be all alone."  
  
Max looked at him again then, her eyes welling with tears. And when Logan pulled her into a hug she wrapped her arms around him and clung as if for dear life, momentarily letting go of the boat's wheel. "Help me, Logan," she implored, her voice muffled against the material of his denim jacket. "I don't want to be alone."  
  


*****  


  
Alec was hungry -- a very good sign Joshua declared, and proceeded to bring his recovering friend a plate of Gem's chicken and biscuits from the kitchen.  
  
"So, if this magic formula of the Doc's is as good as it seems to be, and I don't keel over dead in a day or so," Alec said through a mouthful of food, punctuating his words by jabbing a fork in the air, "I figure we're home free. We'll get everyone vaccinated and then Sandeman won't have any excuses to not back us any more. He won't need his Plan B army."  
  
"Plan B army?" Joshua asked, his blue eyes inquisitive. He was seated in a chair on the opposite side of the table, working on a plate of macaroni and cheese. "What's Plan B, Alec?"  
  
Alec stopped chewing. He remembered now. Joshua didn't know about Sandeman's betrayal. For a second, he considered sugarcoating the whole thing, not letting Joshua know that his so-called "Father" had tried to murder him and Max and was planning on letting the rest of the X series on Chimera die from the seizure malady -- that his precious "children" had suddenly become liabilities rather than assets. But he valued Joshua's friendship too much to do that. The big guy deserved to know the truth.  
  
"Listen," Alec said, putting down the fork. "I've got to tell you something, Josh, and you're not gonna like it."  
  
Joshua shook his head in bewilderment, those innocent eyes now filled with worry. "About Father?" he said softly. "Bad news about Father?"  
  
"Yeah, bad news about Father," Alec said. "When me and Max were on Calvi this last time, Father tried to kill us."  
  
"No," Joshua said calmly. "You're wrong, Alec. Father loves you and Max ... loves me ... loves all of us. He'd never hurt us."  
  
Alec scooted his chair around the table, took hold of Joshua's hands in his own, and leaned forward, looking deeply into his friend's eyes, using every ounce of his persuasive ability to drive home his words. "Joshua, Father's given up on us. He's decided we're all dying and we won't be able to be an army. Plan B is a new army of X5 clones. He's growin 'em in vats beneath his castle even as we speak. And he tried to kill Max and me because he overheard us sayin' how we weren't gonna let that kind of thing ... that _Manticore_ kind of thing ... happen again. Us on the island livin' normal lives and havin' children is one thing. Growin' pseudo-X5 monsters in tanks is something totally different."  
  
Joshua was silent and Alec watched him closely. "Now, don't go cryin' on me, 'cause Max'll have a fit when she gets back if she finds out I've upset you."  
  
"Father really tried to kill you and Max?" Joshua asked, his voice a whisper.  
  
"Sent four of his X5 clones after us on Calvi. But they weren't very well trained. Max and me took 'em out."  
  
Joshua stood up suddenly, yanking is hands away from Alec, and overturning the chair. "I must go to Father!" he declared. "Father will listen to me. I'll make it all right again, Alec. I'll tell him you're all better."  
  
"Father will never trust us again," Alec said, getting to his feet as well. He grabbed Joshua's shoulders and made him look into his eyes. "Listen to me! We can't trust Sandeman any more. He wants Max and me dead, and maybe the other X's too if he thinks they'll cause trouble. His only priority is defeating the Familiars in this apocalyptic battle he says is comin'. We were nothing but his tools, and now he's decided we're broken. He doesn't need Max any more, he doesn't need me any more, and, truth be told, Big Fella, he never really needed _you_ for anything in the first place."  
  
"Father would never hurt me," Joshua said harshly, shoving Alec away so hard he nearly fell.  
  
"Josh!" Alec said sharply, recovering his balance, his legs still weak from his recent ordeal. "Don't be like this! You've got to face the truth!"  
  
Joshua spun to face him, and the look of feral anger on the dogman's face made Alec back up a step. "It's not true!" Joshua snarled. "Father loves me. You're lying. I don't know why, but you're lying."  
  
"I'm not lying," Alec said quietly, gently, for the first time in a very long while a little bit afraid of the transhuman.  
  
Joshua glared at him, the look of hatred in his eyes cutting Alec to the quick. "You'll see," he said, his voice low with anger. "I'll go to Father and he'll explain. Then you'll see how wrong you are."  
  
"Joshua!" Alec yelled as his friend overturned the table and stormed for the door. "Josh!" He grabbed the big transhuman's arm, attempting to stop him. "Come back here! You can't--"  
  
And then suddenly a huge hand was gripping the front of his jacket, and a set of very large fangs were in his face, bared mere inches from his throat. The feral savageness in those suddenly inhuman eyes was chilling.  
  
_What have I done? _Alec thought_. God, what have I done?_  
  
"Leave ... Me ... Alone." Joshua snarled, emphasizing each word with a shake hard enough to make Alec's teeth rattle.  
  
"Or what?" Alec whispered. "You'll kill me? Like you almost killed White? You'll break my neck, or my back? Or tear out my throat? Could you do that to me, Josh? Could you kill me so soon after savin' me? After holdin' me like you did, beggin' me to stay alive ... beggin' me to live? You'd take it all back now ... take my life?"  
  
Alec's words had an effect. Slowly, the blaze of fury in those blue eyes looming above him began to dim, replaced by a look of pure anguish. "I'm sorry, Alec," Joshua said roughly, letting him go.  
  
Alec fell backwards, caught hold of a chair, and sat down, his shaking limbs giving way. If his plea hadn't been heeded, Joshua could have killed him easily. He was that weak.  
  
"I'm sorry," Joshua sobbed. Then he turned his back on his friend and fled.  
  


*****  


"Max," Logan said. "Max, can you hear me?"  
  
"Huh?" Max blinked her eyes, wondering why she felt so sleepy. They'd only had two glasses of wine at dinner in the restaurant downstairs. But she'd been so tired she hadn't even had dessert, instead telling Logan she was going to go rest in her hotel room. When she and Alec came over to the mainland they always stayed here, at the Wellington Arms. Logan's room was just next door. They'd buy the supplies tomorrow, she told herself, then return to the island in late afternoon. At least that was the plan.  
  
"Max?" Logan repeated. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding her hand in his. "Remember what I said on the boat, about how you needed to start letting go of Alec? How you have to push him away now because he's going to leave you?"  
  
"I remember," Max mumbled. Her mouth felt extremely dry, and it was as if she couldn't quite move right. That must have been awfully potent wine, to have this effect on her.  
  
"Here," Logan said gently, his fingers taking hold of her t-shirt. "Let me help you out of these clothes."  
  
"No," Max said, forcing her eyes open. "I'm fine. Really. Just let me sleep awhile. I don't know what's wrong with me."  
  
"Nonsense," Logan said jovially, a big smile on his face as his glasses loomed above her. "You'll be uncomfortable sleeping in your clothes all night." He pulled the shirt up and over her head. And then his fingers were undoing the clasp of her bra. "Just relax," he breathed in her ear as he fondled her flesh.  
  
Max heard the sound of a zipper, of clothes falling to the floor, and then Logan, bare chested, was tugging on her pants, pulling them off, pulling her panties off ...  
  
_No! This isn't happening! Alec! Help me!_  
  
She couldn't move. Couldn't fight. Couldn't stop him. Which is when Max knew. Rohypnol. Logan had spiked her wine with the same drug that had rendered Alec so vulnerable back in Seattle, one of the few human concoctions that could take down a transgenic.  
  
She tried to cry out, tried to call for help, but his mouth was smothering hers. "I've waited forever for this," he whispered harshly against her lips. "Alec's as good as dead. You belong to me now." Then, as her eyes filled with tears, Logan's cold hands forced her legs apart. 

To be continued ...  


_Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site. _

Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note 


	19. This Can't Be Happening

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: No 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 19  
This Can't Be Happening**

Alec hated taking the last boat from Chimera's harbor, essentially leaving everyone else stranded, but with Max and Logan in the Sea Ray and Joshua apparently having absconded with the other mid-sized power boat, he didn't have much choice.  
  
Truth be told, he'd originally purchased the small, sleek black speedboat as a toy, something to have fun with, rather than for practical reasons. At first, Max had scowled, but she'd soon come to love racing across the ocean at over ninety knots, her face lighting up as if she were out cruising the coastal highway on her Ninja. Now, that "toy" was going to come in handy.  
  
Alec's strength was returning fast, the food and Dr. Makari's dose of tryptophan (that could now actually work in his system) kicking in. Steering into the rising tide, he noted a new moon was shining above. With luck, he'd make Wellington in an hour and a half, find Max, and together they'd go after Joshua. He rather imagined his big, conspicuous friend would be hanging around the airport. Zeb was there with the DC9 in the hangar they rented. If they were _really_ lucky, Joshua would go to him and the ex-Marine would talk some sense into the dogboy.  
  
At the moment though, all Alec could do was breath in the fresh ocean air and salt spray as the sleek craft cut toward the mainland nearly a hundred miles away.  
  


*****  


A weight half again her own pinning her down, her muscles frozen by the drug, through a blurred haze Max felt herself being violated -- another man, an "ordinary," touching her with himself, caressing, fondling.  
  
The smell of Logan's arousal nauseated her, or maybe it was the drug. Her rapist's body was sleek with sweat, the sound of his grunts hideous as he abused her.  
  
Tearing her mouth from Logan's, Max mustered all of her remaining strength and tried to scream -- but all that came out was a whimpering moan.  
  


*****  


Alec didn't even bother going to the front desk at the Wellington Arms. He and Max always took the same room, a small retainer fee slipped to the head clerk assuring its permanent availability. Logan's would most likely be on the same floor.  
  
The dining room was closed, so he assumed Max and Logan had turned in for the night. Not bothering with the slow elevator, he bounded up the steps to the third floor suite with its king size bed and windows that fronted on the harbor.  
  
His hand, however, hesitated at the doorknob. Should he knock? The last thing Alec wanted to do was startle Max on the off chance she really was asleep. He'd done that once, inadvertently sneaked up on her while she dozed. The bruise on his cheek had taken nearly a week to fade.  
  
And then suddenly, as if an icy chill had caressed his skin, the hair on the back of his neck rose. His preternatural feline hearing was picking up faint sounds -- the sounds of sex -- even as his nose twitched at Max's intimate smell.  
  


*****  


She tasted so good, just like he'd always imagined, her skin flavored with vanilla and spice. Casting his glasses aside, Logan let his tongue linger in her sweet private places, inhaling the scent that was Max.  
  
This was how it should have been long ago, Logan thought, how it always should be. Max belonged to him -- had from the first moment he'd laid eyes on her over three years ago -- his own personal X5-Unit ... the love of his life.  
  
"I love you, Max," Logan whispered in her ear, ignoring the way she rolled her eyes and telling himself her wild panting was from ecstacy, not panic. The feel of her breasts heaving beneath him fueled the fire in his loins and he positioned himself between her legs.  
  
Once this was done, once their relationship was consumated, Max would feel differently about him, Logan told himself. Alec would be gone soon, out of their lives forever, and then she and Brac would be _his_ family, her next child sired by him, not that X5 bastard who had stood in the way of their love for so long.  
  
"Shhh," Logan soothed, stroking Max's hair with trembling fingers and planting little kisses along the side of her neck. "Don't think about him," he implored. "Please, don't think about him. Think about me ... about us. I can give you pleasure too, Max."  
  
He closed his eyes, thrust into her -- and the hotel room door burst off its hinges.  
  


*****  


Alec stood in the doorway, breathing hard, eyes wide, his whole body ready for combat. But what he saw made his knees go weak -- a very naked Logan mounting an equally naked Max in the middle of that big king-sized bed.  
  
Max wasn't fighting, wasn't protesting, wasn't even moving. Instead, she seemed to be totally compliant, her head lolling back on the pillow, her eyes fluttering as if in the throes of passion.  
  
_No. No way. This can't be happening._  
  
But the evidence was undeniable -- Max and Logan were making love.  
  
And in that instant Alec's whole world came crashing down -- along with his sanity.  
  


*****  


Logan had never actually seen Ben, never witnessed his cold, calculated, demented rage. If he had, he'd have recognized the look in Alec's eyes. But he _did_ recognize the fact that Max's mate was about to kill him.  
  
"Alec," Logan breathed. Hopping off of the bed (and Max's limp body), making no attempt to hide his nudity, he began to move toward the window, limping slightly now that his X5 blood transfusions were wearing off. "She wanted it. She wanted me. I swear. I know it's hard to accept but--"  
  
And then he realized that "Alec" wasn't there any more. Logan gulped, and swallowed hard. "Easy," he said softly, gently, knowing he was speaking now to a wild animal. "Remember, you're not a killer any more. Max would never forgive you if you hurt me. You don't want to--"  
  
He'd seen X5's blur before, but the act still caught him completely by surprise. One moment 494 was in the doorway, the next Logan was clawing frantically at fingers around his throat. Green-gold eyes inches from his seemed to glow with a light of their own as a deep voice grated, "She ... Was ... Mine."  
  
_No!_  
  
494 jumped, his attention distracted from crushing Logan Cale's trachea by the voice inside his head.  
  
_Alec, no!_  
  
Max. Max was pleading for her lover's life. Well, it wasn't going to do any good. She could fucking well watch her precious Logan die. His lip curling in a silent snarl, 494 squeezed.  
  
"Alec," Max panted out loud, barely able to speak as she tried to draw herself up on the bed. "Please! Stop! You're not a killer! Don't let Logan win this way! Don't let him turn you into a monster!" She swung her legs off the bed, tried to stand and failed, crumpling to the floor. Unwilling to accept defeat, she began to crawl.  
  
"Don't worry, bitch" 494 growled. "You're next."  
  
Logan was trying to say something, a fact the X5 found amusing. Fear was potent on the telepathic plain, or so they'd told him in psi-ops, and Cale's terror was like a tonic to 494's heightened psionic senses. In fact, wanting to feel his enemy's fear was the reason he hadn't simply snapped the piece of shit's neck in the first place and been done with it. No. He wanted this death to be long and drawn out ... painful ... He wanted Logan to hurt as much as he did right now, to feel the agony in his heart.   
  
"What?" 494 hissed. "You gonna tell me this is all a mistake?  
  
Something touched his ankle, and 494 jumped. Looking down he saw Max at his feet, her face turned upwards, brown eyes imploring, her small hand clasped tightly around his leg as if she could somehow pull him away from Logan.  
  
_Please don't!_  
  
Her words were soundless, but he heard her loud and clear in his mind, so intimate was their connection.  
  
_Don't kill him!_  
  
Out loud, "We can still fix this, Alec," she gasped. "We can fix it."  
  
"We can't fix it, Max!" he yelled, hurling Logan across the room with superhuman strength, smashing his enemy's body into the wall.  
  
Gasping for breath, Logan managed to climb to his feet and eyed the broken door.  
  
"Logan, run!" Max screamed, at the same time tightening her grip on Alec's leg.  
  
Undeterred by his lack of clothes, Logan dashed into the hall. 494 lunged forward, dragging Max with him. Not letting go, she pulled hard and he fell.  
  
And then -- he turned on her.  
  
"I love you," Max gasped, struggling to mouth the words as his hands tightened around her small throat.  
  
"Bitch!" 494 sobbed as tears ran down his face. "Bitch!"  
  
"Drug ..." she got out as her eyes began to bulge. "Logan drugged ... me ..."  
  
_Logan drugged ... me._  
  
And , by the grace of God, _Alec_ heard her.  


To be continued ... 


	20. Ghosts of Manticore

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: No 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 20  
Ghosts of Manticore**

"Max," Alec said softly, cradling her in his arms on the bed, tenderly kissing her bruised throat. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He rested his forehead against hers and let the tears fall. She was unconscious, but breathing normally, the drug Logan had given her stealing her away for now.  
  
Curling up beside Max, all Alec could do was wait and keep her warm against his body. He was terrified of what she'd say when she finally woke up, but the thought of running, of leaving her, never even occurred to him. He'd made a horrible mistake, the kind that could end a relationship -- now, all he could do was accept the consequences.  
  
Alec did, however, look toward the broken hotel room door, currently barricaded closed with a small couch shoved in front of it so they wouldn't have intruders. Logan was out there somewhere, free, getting farther away. What he'd done to Max ... He'd still die for that, but Alec knew Max had been right. Losing his soul, his sanity, was too high a price to pay for revenge. Cale's death would come in its own good time, in the way Fate decreed. And, if it was by his hand, then it would be while he was sane and rational, not lost in a world of Manticore craziness and at the mercy of his feral genes.  
  
The sun was rising when Max stirred.  
  
"Hey," Alec said as her eyelids fluttered open. "It's all right. You're safe now. It's all over."  
  
"Alec?" she said weakly. Then her eyes widened as memories returned. "Logan!" she gasped, sitting up so fast he couldn't hold onto her. She looked down at her nakedness and clutched the blankets to cover her breasts. Then she shot a glance at Alec. "You killed him," she said. "Logan raped me and you killed him." Another memory surfaced and the look in her eyes changed to pain. "And you tried to kill me."  
  
Alec wanted to deny it, to tell Max she'd gotten things wrong. But he couldn't lie to her.  
  
"Logan's still alive," he said truthfully, giving her the good news first. "You saved him. You stopped me."  
  
"He's alive?" Max breathed, and for the life of him Alec couldn't tell if she was relieved or disappointed, her mind and feelings at the moment completely shutting him out.  
  
"He ran." Alec gestured at the broken door. "We'll have to find him though. You know that."  
  
"I know," Max said softly. And then she was looking straight at him, touching fingers to her throat where the imprint of his hands was emblazoned damningly in dark purple against her golden skin. "You thought I'd betrayed you," she said. "You thought Logan and I were lovers. And you tried to kill me."  
  
Alec looked away. She was waiting desperately for him to deny the accusations, but he couldn't.  
  
"I'm sorry," was the best he could do, the two stupid words as lacking as they always were.  
  
"How could you believe I'd cheat on you with Logan?" Max cried, her hands balling into fists as if she were about to beat on him.  
  
"What I saw ..." Alec stammered. "It looked like ... You weren't fighting him, Max. I couldn't understand why you weren't fighting him. I know now you were drugged, and I should have guessed there was no way you'd ever willingly be with Logan. But I didn't think--"  
  
"No," Max said coldly. "You didn't think. You just acted on instinct. And your instinct was to not trust me."  
  
Alec honestly didn't know what to say to that. There was an awkward silence that seemed to stretch forever. Finally, not looking at Max, staring at the wall, he said quietly, "We have another problem."  
  
"We always do."  
  
"It's Joshua."  
  
_That_ got her attention. "What's wrong? Is he all right? What'd you do now?"  
  
Alec shook his head in cynical disbelief. Even after all they'd been through together, all the time they'd been lovers, Max was still ready to first believe the worst of him ... to blame him. _Never a kind word ..._  
  
"I told him about Father and his clone army," Alec said levelly. "How Sandeman tried to kill us. He freaked out and ran away. I'm pretty sure he's headed for Calvi which means goin' to the airport here. I should have caught up to him last night, but our only hope now is that Zeb talked him out of doin' something crazy."  
  
Alec expected Max to berate him for telling Joshua about his Father's betrayal. Instead, she sighed and said, "He had to know. And now, maybe he has to find out for himself who to trust." She raised her eyes. "Just like you do."  
  
"Max, I'm so, so sorry ..."  
  
"Shut up," she said softly. "We can worry about the divorce later. Right now help me find my clothes. We've got to get to the airport."  
  


*****  


  
The DC9 was gone when they arrived at the hangar, which left Max and Alec with only one option if they wanted to catch up to Joshua -- a 17 hour commercial flight to Corsica. A quick global cell phone call to Chimera let O.C. know what was happening. Of course she didn't mind watching Brac for a few days.  
  
The trip was long and exhausting, moreso because of the terrible silence between them. It was Max who made the first attempt at repairing some of the emotional damage.  
  
Somewhere over the Arabian Sea, after changing planes in Sri Lanka, Max glanced over at her mate. With his longish hair tousled, dark circles under his eyes, and more than a shadow of a beard, he looked exhausted, and in fact was leaning back in his seat apparently dozing. Somehow, though, she doubted Alec was really asleep. Taking a deep breath she said, "I want you to tell me something, and I want the truth."  
  
"Truth hurts sometimes, Maxie," Alec said flippantly without bothering to open his eyes.  
  
"Cut the act, Alec," Max warned. "Drop the cynical, bastard, I-don't-give-a-shit Manticore defenses and be straight with me."  
  
"'Bout what?"  
  
"I want you to tell me about Manticore."  
  
Alec flinched. The movement was barely perceptible, but Max saw.  
  
"You already know what I was, Max. The things I did. Why the sudden desire for a trip down memory lane?"  
  
"You were an assassin."  
  
"Yeah. It was my job. Nothin' new there." He opened one eye. "What the hell does this have to do with anything anyway? Or are you just lookin' for somethin' else to bust my chops about?"  
  
"How many?"  
  
"How many what?"  
  
"Kills."  
  
"None of your business."  
  
His voice was Manticore cold, and Max knew she had to be careful here. She'd never pressed Alec about his past before, but now his past had just run headlong into his future. He'd almost killed her the night before in a blind fit of rage. That hadn't been Alec in the hotel room. It had been X5-494, and no matter how often Alec swore he wasn't two separate people, that his Manticore self was the same as the person who loved her, she didn't believe it. There were things she now had to know.  
  
"It _is_ my business," she said. "Seeing as how you tried to murder me. "How many solo missions did you go on? How many people did you kill?"  
  
Alec's green gold eyes flickered, the look in their depths shifting from anger to anguish.  
  
"Tell me," Max said harshly. "Tell me or we're through. I need to know what I'm up against here -- what they made you do -- how bad the damage is."  
  
"Four," Alec said levelly, focusing his eyes on the back of the seat in front of him. "Plus Lehane, Berrisford's driver, and ... Rachel ... which I guess makes seven." He glanced at her. "Or should I also count the convicts we ripped to pieces when we were kids, or the soldiers I shot on overseas missions."  
  
"You had four solo away missions before the Berrisford assignment?" Max clarified.  
  
"Short term," Alec said. "Couple of days each. Manticore didn't like its rookie X5's bein' 'contaminated' by the real world. Berrisford was my first deep cover mission."  
  
"And after Berrisford?"  
  
A harsh laugh. "What do you think, Max? The usual. Re-indoctrination, Manticore's oh-so-polite word for torture. Afterwards, when they were done rippin' my body and soul apart, I spent three months in solitary. When I got out they never trusted me on the outside on my own again." He grinned ruthlessly, staring off into nothingness. "But then I never trusted _them_ again either, knew that most of what they'd told me all my life was a lie. At least I came away with that much."  
  
He looked at her then. "I wanted to die after what I did to Rachel, but Manticore wouldn't allow that. I was too valuable a military asset. And after awhile, after surviving all they did to me, I realized that dyin' was too good for me ... too easy. I deserved to live and suffer."  
  
Tears were streaming down Max's face. "Do you remember about any of the others you killed," she whispered.  
  
"Political targets," Alec said with a shrug. "One was military. Two of 'em I didn't even know their names. I just followed orders." He lowered his voice. "They told me they were bad guys, Max -- a danger to Manticore. I thought I was doin' the right thing, even with Lehane and Berrisford at first, although initially I was just sent in to observe on that assignment. You know how Manticore was -- everything revolved around them, your loyalty couldn't be questioned. If it was ..."  
  
"You had to survive, I suppose," Max conceded. "And you did it the only way you could. But they still made you into a killer, Alec. They still stole part of your soul, just like they did mine. We can't ever forget that. The way you were last night -- you were an animal, Alec, something inhuman. Manticore did that to us both, put feline DNA in our bodies and conditioned us to kill -- you moreso than me because you were ten years longer on the inside."  
  
"You're not tellin' me anything I don't already know, Max," Alec said evenly. "I just snap -- go all primitive. Like you said, we have to be aware of it, on guard, but there's really no way to stop ourselves sometimes."  
  
"And that's exactly why I can forgive you," Max said slowly, the revelation surprising even herself. And then she leaned over in her seat and wrapped Alec in a big hug. "One last question," she whispered in his ear.  
  
"Just one?"  
  
"How'd you manage to keep the locket?"  
  
He blinked at that, his mind a second getting up to speed. "Rachel's locket?" A knowing smile. "I put it in my pocket. They never bothered goin' through my clothes, just tossed 'em into my old quarters. It was still there after I got out of re-indoc." He nuzzled her hair. "Afterwards," he said, his voice growing husky, "I always kept it with me as a reminder of what I'd lost ... what they'd taken from me ... and who I really was."  
  
"You were never really Manticore again, were you?" Max said. "You did what you had to do to stay alive, keep them off your back, but inside ... they lost you when that car exploded."  
  
Alec nodded slowly, as if perhaps acknowledging that truth for the first time. "I learned how to fool them," he said. "How to fool myself when I had to. I became a good actor, a good liar, and a good judge of people. I decided I was gonna be in charge of my life. I'd do what I had to in order to stay alive, but I never truly believed anything they said ever again. Eventually, I had everything under control." He drew back so he could look into her eyes. "And then they paired me off with you, and my whole damn world turned upside down again." 

To be continued ...

_Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site. _

Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note 


	21. Father Knows Best

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: No 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 21  
Father Knows Best**

Joshua fell at Father's feet and lowered his head as if bowing to a god.  
  
"What is it, my child?" Herman Sandeman implored, truly distressed to see his "son" so upset.  
  
Tear filled blue eyes looked up at him, grief mirrored in their watery depths. "Alec," Joshua said.  
  
"What about Alec?" Sandeman asked gently. His clear eyes narrowed slightly. "Has Alec done something bad?"  
  
"No!" Joshua declared quickly, taking hold of Sandeman's hand with his own. "Alec's my friend ... my buddy ... Alec's good. It's just--"  
  
"What did Alec say to you? Something about me? Something that disturbs you?"  
  
Joshua nodded, his gaze falling. "Alec said you tried to hurt him ... have him and Max killed because they say you don't need them anymore ... don't need us."  
  
Sandeman closed his eyes. "I would never hurt you, Joshua," he said softly. "You're my first born special child."  
  
"And not hurt Alec and Max either?" Joshua asked hopefully, his eyes lighting up.  
  
"Max has fulfilled her destiny," Sandeman said carefully. "Her place in the Prophecys is past. Alec has also played his part well, protecting her, keeping her safe so she could be the source of the vaccine that will save mankind from the plague. However--"  
  
"And now Alec and Max will lead your army," Joshua said eagerly. "Your army that's on Chimera."  
  
Sandeman was shaking his head slowly. "No, my child. I'm afraid your friends' roles are finished. I thought Alec could build my army, father children with Max ... that all of the X's could contribute. But unfortunately their flesh is flawed. They can't succeed. And so, it remained up to me to create another army, which I've done."  
  
"What other army?" Joshua asked innocently. "Alec says you made X5 clones, bad creatures ... evil Manticore things. But you would never do that would you Father? Make bad things?"  
  
Sandeman had the decency to look away. "They're capable of fighting," he said. "That's all that's necessary. I only need them to be able to defeat the Breeding Cult, to protect ordinary humans from annihilation. They're nowhere near as beautiful as Max and Alec ... as you Joshua ... but they'll do."  
  
A look of great sadness descended on Joshua's doglike countinence. "Alec was right then," he said quietly. "You're replacing us with ... things."  
  
"The X series on Chimera are dying," Sandeman said, trying to make his child understand. "I can't help them. I've tried, but the research is impossible right now, not with the vast need for my plague vaccine taking up all of my time and resources.  
  
"But why try to kill Max and Alec?" Joshua wailed. "When they've helped you so much!"  
  
"Because according to the Prophecies Alec's role ... 494's role ... may not quite be over," Sandeman said grimly. "His name is mentioned one last time in the scrolls. Before, his part was ambiguous -- we were uncertain if he would help or hinder. It turned out he helped ... tremendously ... genetically complimenting Max, siring a child, attempting to build my army, protecting mankind ... But now his name is once again in play, and I'm extremely concerned that his final act in our Prophecies will be to aide the enemy." He took Joshua's face in his hands, his ancient eyes boring into the dogman's. "Alec and Max want to destroy my cloned X5's. If they succeed, humanity is doomed. In attempting to do good, they would be committing the ultimate evil. I can't let that happen."  
  
"So you really did try to kill Alec and Max?" Joshua whimpered, wiping a tear away with the back of his large hand. "And you'll try again?"  
  
"Yes," Sandeman said honestly.  
  
And with that single world, Joshua's world was no longer whole.  
  


*****  


"My new soldiers truly are inferior to the original, aren't they?" Sandeman said quietly without looking up from where he was seated in his wingback leather chair. Working at his desk on formulas and calculations late into the night by the light of a single bulb, his wizened face looked as dried and ancient as a mummy.  
  
"The real deal is always better," Alec replied, stepping forward from the shadows with Max at his side.  
  
"You've come for Joshua?"  
  
"He's here?" Max asked before Alec's hand on her wrist could stop the words.  
  
Sandeman smiled sadly. "Yes, he's here. In his room. He's very angry with me, and worried sick about the two of you." He raised his eyes to Alec's. "How many did you kill on your way in?"  
  
"Three," Alec said, his voice emotionless. "And we're gonna kill a lot more before we leave."  
  
"The tanks in the cavern," Sandeman said, nodding. "I knew you'd return to be my downfall ... mankind's downfall. It's written in the Prophecies you know -- your ultimate role as the one who thwarts the army of good and allows the army of darkness to destroy the world."  
  
Alec looked at Max, one eyebrow raised. "Should I be flattered?"  
  
"I think so," she said, an equally quizzical look on her face. "First you save the damn world, and now you get to destroy it. Nice work, 494."  
  
Alec shrugged. "I try."  
  
Sandeman listened to the bantering with his head tilted slightly to one side. "You're not taking me seriously," he said.  
  
"No foolin'," Alec replied sarcastically. "We've both had enough of this Prophecy crap. The world's gonna either live or die on its own. Max and me have nothin' more to do with it. We just wanna make sure you don't set a bunch of slave X5's loose, and that you keep your promise to our people -- to take care of our genetic problems.  
  
"I'm sorry," was all the old man said. He shook his head sadly. "I truly am so very, very sorry."  
  
Alec honestly didn't believe Sandeman had it in him. Even when he saw the small handgun in Father's hand, he still thought this had to be some kind of bluff or even a joke -- that a man who had once considered his Manticore children to be the saviours of the world was now about to personally kill him was beyond ludicrous. At the very least he'd expected an attack from the newly minted soldiers, or from some of the burly bodyguards.  
  
But when he allowed himself to truly focus on Father, he realized the tears in those wrinkled blue eyes were being shed for the death of X5-494.  
  
"Alec!" Max screamed a second too late.  
  
The first bullet caught Alec in the chest, throwing him backwards to stumble over a chair. The second hit his side, the third his right shoulder. The fourth, the kill shot aimed at his head, was a clean miss, the bullet burying itself in the wall by the door.  
  
And then, as Alec lay struggling for breath on the floor, Sandeman turned his little pistol in Max's direction.  
  
"I'm sorry," he whispered again, as if that would somehow make everything all right, and pulled the trigger one more time.  
  
But Max wasn't there. In a blur of motion she was on top of her Father, wrenching the gun from his hand and striking him mercilessly across the face. The old men fell into a file cabinet, the wind knocked from his lungs. Slowly he clawed his way back to his feet, trembling, like an ancient rotten tree trunk ready to topple in the slightest breeze.  
  
"Alec?" Max cried out softly, looking from Sandeman to her mate who lay unconscious and bleeding to death on the floor. Manticore training dictated she finish the job -- that she kill Sandeman now.  
  
But instead Max turned her back on him and fell to her knees beside Alec. A fatal mistake. She didn't see the hypodermic needle in her former benefactor's hand.  
  
"Max!" Joshua's voice shouted from the door. "Watch out!"  
  
Max turned to see the poison filled syringe plunging toward her neck. Her hand blurred to deflect the hypo at the same instant Joshua's huge fist slammed into Sandeman's head knocking the old man off his feet to send him flying through the air and into a wall. When he landed, Father lay with his neck oddly canted to one side, pale blue eyes open and staring sightlessly up at his first born child in shock and surprise even as death clouded their color forever.  
  
Death. "Oh God," Max whispered, turning again to Alec. Joshua, breathing hard, stood staring down at the man he'd just murdered, the man he'd called "father" his entire life, the man he'd loved so much. Tears welled in the dogman's eyes and a keen formed on his lips. But then he looked at Max on her knees beside Alec as she frantically tried to stem the blood flowing from his wounds, and the wail of grief died before it was truly born. There was nothing to grieve for here -- not yet at least. 

To be continued ...

_Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site. _

Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note 


	22. All Things End

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: No 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 22  
All Things End**

"He's dying," Max said tightly as she tried to keep pressure on Alec's wounds. The one in his side was barely bleeding although there was a bullet buried somewhere beneath his ribcage. The shoulder shot, a through-and-through, was seeping badly but could wait. However, the chest wound was what had her terrified. Eyes closed, unconscious, Alec struggled for every breath as air bubbles frothed from the ugly bloody hole. As for an exit point, there wasn't any -- and from the location Max knew the bullet had to be lodged horribly close to her mate's eratically beating heart.  
  
Joshua had carried Alec down the hall to his own room and lain him gently on his bed. Now, the sheets and blankets beneath him were soaked with crimson.  
  
"A doctor?" Max said, turning desperate eyes on the dogman. "There has to be a doctor on Calvi, in the town?"  
  
"I think so," Joshua said. "But who will get him?"  
  
Max realized her friend was right. Joshua, with his doglike appearance, couldn't very well go rushing madly about the little town in the wee hours of the morning pounding on doors. Which meant she'd have to go ... leave Alec ... with no assurances that he'd still be here when she returned.  
  
"Joshua?" she said, her voice cracking, her throat filling with tears. "I don't know what to do." She looked down at Alec, at his frighteningly pale face, at his stillness except for the harsh rise and fall of his chest. "I don't know what he'd do ..."  
  
A shadow fell across them from the doorway and Max looked up, her dark hair falling in her eyes.  
  
"I heard gunshots," Otto Gottlieb said, his voice trembling. "Sandeman's ..."  
  
"Dead," Joshua said. "He tried to kill Alec and Max."  
  
Sandeman's assistant's eyes widened. "I knew he was worried about something," he said more to himself than to them. "I knew he was afraid of 494. I tried to convince him that Alec would never intentionally do harm, but the old man was obsessed with his Prophecies." He was looking at Alec. "How bad is he?"  
  
"He's dying," Max said coldly, refusing to shed more tears in front of this man -- once enemy, now ally.  
  
"I'll get my medical supplies," Otto said. "Maybe I can--"  
  
"No one's getting anything," a new voice spoke.  
  
Max felt as if her world was reeling. "Logan! What ... What are you doing here?"  
  
But the gun in his hand made Logan Cale's purpose obvious. "What I'm doing is making sure that trangenic bastard is dead," he said, aiming the semi-automatic at the unconscious young man. "I'm not going to live the rest of my life looking over my shoulder, wondering when he's going to pounce on me from out of the darkness. After what I did ..." Cold eyes focused for a moment on Max. "After what I did to you ... he could never just let it go, leave me alone." Logan was standing ... still walking ... but leaning on a cane, the transfusion wearing off more rapidly now. Soon he'd be paralyzed again, back in his wheelchair ...  
  
Joshua was looking from Max to Logan in confusion, not understanding at all.  
  
"Logan raped me," Max said, the three words explaining everything.  
  
The low growl issuing from Joshua's throat warned Cale that Alec wasn't the only one he now had to worry about. And then, of course, there was Max ...  
  
Otto began to edge along the wall toward him. Logan never even gave a warning, merely pointed the gun and shot him in the head.  
  
"Don't!" Max screamed too late as Sandeman's assistant slumped to the floor, as dead as his master in the other room.  
  
Joshua rose to his full height and put himself between Logan and his two friends. "Are you going to shoot me too?" he asked quietly.  
  
"Don't want to, Big Fella," Logan said, his voice not unkind. "But I will if I have to. You see, it's come down to me or them."  
  
"You hurt Max," Joshua said. "You hurt Alec."  
  
"Yes," Logan admitted. "I hurt them both very much." He turned his eyes to Max who was still holding a wad of cloth against the gaping wound in Alec's chest, vainly trying to stem the bleeding as his life slowly slipped away.  
  
"Max," he said. "I'm truly sorry. I know that's meaningless, especially since I'm going to kill him," he gestured to Alec, "but I never meant for it to be like this between us. I'm giving you one last chance here. Come with me. Forget Alec. Forget he ever existed. Brac will be our son. I'll treat you much better than--"  
  
Logan's words faltered as his eyes filled with astonishment. A gun in Max's hand was the last thing he ever expected to see. Max hated guns. Never in all the years he'd known her had she ever even touched on, let alone used one. And now she had one pointed directly at him.  
  
"Alec took it from one of the guards on the way in," Max said softly. "Tucked it in his belt." She smiled slightly. "You know Alec ... he loves guns ... loves to have one. He never understood why I hated them so much, but then I never really told him about Eva, how Lydecker shot her right in front of me when I was a child." She glanced at the badly wounded man. "I'm going to have to tell him that story someday ..."  
  
Logan looked from Joshua to Max, wavering.  
  
"You don't want to kill us all," Max said quietly. "You're not evil, Logan. You're not a bad man. You just let your love for me get all twisted up with hate. We could have been such good friends if only you could have let me go."  
  
"We can still be friends," Logan said, his voice tinged with panic. "Max, you're right. I don't want to hurt you or Joshua. Don't make me--"  
  
He never got to finish. The first bullet caught him in the groin, doubling him over in agony.  
  
"Max!" he screamed, trying to raise the gun that had almost dropped from his fingers.  
  
Joshua snarled, and with a move almost as quick as an X5 wrenched the semi-automatic away. Then he raised a huge hand, intending to strike a fatal blow.  
  
"Wait!" Max commanded, her voice now hard and harsh. "Let him suffer."  
  
Logan had collapsed on the floor, curled in a ball, his hands clutching his ruined genitals. Glasses askew, his eyes filled with tears, he gasped, "Max, please ... Don't ..."  
  
"That was for what you did to me," Max said, her voice almost gentle. Casually she aimed and pulled the trigger again, this time sending a bullet into his knee. "And that's for letting Alec nearly die from the Familiar's virus. I'm so glad you still have feeling in your legs." Another shot to his other knee. Another horrible scream. "And that's for turning Alec over to White." She had to raise her voice now to be heard above Cale's shrieks of agony. The barrel of the gun rose one last time. "And this," she said, her voice a hiss, "is so Alec doesn't have to suffer the guilt of killing you himself."  
  
The final bullet shattered the lens of Logan's glasses, as well as his eye, penetrating deep into his brain -- ending forever the horrific love triangle that had led to so much tragedy. 

To be continued ... 

_Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site. _

Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note 


	23. Not My Problem

DISCLAIMER: All "Dark Angel" characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and "Dark Angel" itself belongs to FOX. 

ARCHIVE: No 

**The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life **  
By Valjean

******************************

**Chapter 23  
Not My Problem**

It wasn't fair ... it wasn't fair that it had ended this way.  
  
Max stood beside the newest grave in Chimera's cemetery. Flowers in her hand, she knelt and gently placed the blossoms at the base of the monument, a beautiful grey granite stone Luke had carved especially for her ... for him.  
  
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I never wanted things to be like this. I'm sorry you had to die."  
  
Brac came running to her across the velvety green of the cemetery lawn, his chubby little arms outstretched for his mommy and his tiny powerful legs pumping in strides far more graceful than an ordinary 18-month-old. Max swept him up in a big hug and buried her face in his soft blonde hair. Then her hand went to her flat stomach and a small smile touched her lips. "Before long you're going to have a baby sister," she said, nuzzling her son's ear. "You'll get to be a big brother, her protector, just like your daddy always protected me."  
  
A shadow fell across her. "You know, I never in a million years pictured myself as a family man," a familiar beloved deep voice said. Alec bent over and took Brac from her, grimacing slightly when the baby playfully kicked out and his little foot hit him in still sore ribs.  
  
"Dr. Makari said you weren't supposed to lift anything for another week," Max chided.  
  
Alec shrugged, then smiled as Brac's tiny fingers grabbed the lapel of his brown leather jacket. "I'm all right." His eyes slid to his mate's, a sly grin on his handsome face. "Hell, I'm always all right."  
  
"Watch your language," Max said, but her voice was lilting, not scolding. "Brac's picking up more words every day and he doesn't need profanity in his vocabulary just yet."  
  
Alec ducked his head, a _mea culpa_ in his eyes. Then he gestured to the grave. "I didn't like this at first," he said. "Not after what he did to you ... to us. But I suppose we do owe Logan something. After all, there was a time you loved the guy, and he wasn't always a raving maniac."  
  
Max frowned. "I'm just glad his grave is the only new one," she said. "I'm glad Dr. Makari's drug, the one that saved you, is working on all the X's. Now, so long as we can keep our tryptophan supplies replenished, we should be all right."  
  
"And Father's newly cloned army?" Alec asked, one eyebrow raised. "You were in such a hurry to get off Calvi--"  
  
"In order to save your life," Max interrupted. "You were drowning in your own blood. I didn't have time to play Superwoman and destroy the lab beneath the castle. We'll just have to worry about that later. It's a miracle I found a doctor willing to call in a Medivac chopper, and those emergency room attendants in Calenzana are probably still talking about the mystery patient who's heart stopped four times but walked out of the hospital three days later."  
  
"Because of your blood," Alec said. "Three units ... In case I forgot, thanks Max ... for savin' my ass again."  
  
She smiled tartly, mischief glinting in her eyes. "I only bother because it's such a very fine ass you know, and I really would miss it if it was gone."  
  
Alec looked down at where her hand still rested on her stomach. "Makari says things are all right with her?"  
  
"Just fine," Max replied, her tone softening. "Pure X5 and this time I get to pick the name."   
  
"Fair enough."  
  
There was a sound behind them and both transgenics turned to see Joshua standing at the edge of the cemetery in the early morning mist, his head bowed.  
  
"Hey, Josh," Alec called out. "You all right?"  
  
Joshua raised his eyes and gestured toward Logan's grave. "Father should be here too," he said. "He should be with his children."  
  
"It was hard enough haulin' one body off Calvi, Big Fella," Alec said sympathetically. "Actually, it was two if you count what bad shape I was in." He glanced down at Max. "I'm sure Sandeman's people took care of him ... and Otto."  
  
"We could only look out for our own, Joshua," Max added. "And no matter what he did, Logan was still really one of us ... belonged with us at the end."  
  
"I know," Joshua said with a huge sigh. "But I wish ..."  
  
"Wish what, Big Fella?" Alec asked, handing Brac to Max and walking over to put a hand on his friend's shoulder.  
  
"I wish we could really have been Father's army ... that we could have defeated the evil for him. Now ..." He shrugged. "We don't have a purpose any more." He looked at Brac who had pulled out of his mother's arms and was chasing a butterfly, darting between the headstones. "We're a lost people, Alec. No one in the world cares about us any more."  
  
"Which ain't all that bad," Alec said softly, his eyes also on his son. "There's an ancient oriental curse that goes 'May you live in interesting times.' Well, I've had about all the 'interesting' I need for one life. Personally, I'll be glad to just hunker down here on Chimera and let the rest of the world pass me and my family by." One corner of his lips quirked up in a small secretive smile. "With, of course, the occasional cat burglary foray outside just to keep me from gettin' bored."  
  
"The rest of the world isn't going to ever be the same, you know," Max said, looking up at him from where she knelt, her hand now resting on the headstone of Logan's grave. "With Sandeman dead the vaccine distribution will be affected. Thousands more will die, maybe tens of thousands. And then, one day, the breeding cult's going to come out of hiding and stage a takeover. Without us to fight against them ..." She didn't finish the sentence, didn't need to. Instead her dark eyebrows crept up, sad resignation on her face.  
  
"I know, I know, the regular human race is toast," Alec said tiredly, pacing, gesturing with his hands now, not liking where Max seemed to be going with this. Then he stopped, his hazel-green eyes hardening as he added flippantly, "But it's not my problem." Off Max's sharp look, "And not your problem either." He pointed a finger at her, emphasizing his words. "Not any more. Hell, let Sandeman's clones handle things. He still has people ... followers to continue his work. Maybe that will be enough." Joshua was looking at him now too. "After all," Alec added rather lamely. (He felt like he was losing a battle.) "In spite of Father's precious Prophecies about me bein' the one who was gonna foil his plan we left the tanks intact. Which means I'm not the bad guy, right?"  
  
Max had gotten to her feet and was staring at him now, her eyes still demanding more from him.  
  
"Ah, geez, Max!" Alec turned desperately to Joshua, seeking some support. "I want out! I want my whole family out of this nightmare! I'm _not_ goin' back to Calvi. I'm _not_ gonna use our people here to still try and build some kind of army to fight the cult. And most of all I'm _not_ gonna--"  
  
"Shut up," Max said, and her lips on his made him do just that.  


The End

_Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site. _

Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note 


End file.
